Demons in the Light
by SantaKitty
Summary: Lucy watched horrified as the man caught fire and screamed in agony, the rest of the cult following suit as the demon completely destroyed each of them either through means of brute force or by lighting more of them on fire. Is she next or will this demon spare her the pain of a bloody death? (T at first M as I get farther along in the story)
1. Chapter 1

Lucy sat crying silently in the corner of the dark room not sure how she came to be here. One moment she was just an ordinary girl out for a stroll on a lovely summers day on her families land, and the next, she was the prisoner of a demon she was supposed to be sacrificed to! She had heard the rumors going around about a cult that had formed recently; bent on bringing about the end of all things. How foolish she was to think it idle gossip. Her memories on how she had been captured were hazy, but she remembered clearly the ritual they had used to summon the demon. She shuddered remembering the feeling of the cold marble table she had been strapped to, the coarse ropes chaffing her wrists and ankles to the point of bleeding.

Unsure of her future now, she waited in her corner shivering in the cold, refusing to use anything that damned creature offered her. She had watched helpless as he formed from the giant pyre in the center of the room. The cult members cheered when he stepped from the flames; Red scales like those of a dragons played across the skin of his arms and neck, His fierce eyes black as onyx and glinting dangerously,protruding from his spiky (Pink?!) hair were two gruesome looking horns spiraling slightly. He took one long look around the room before his eyes focused on her. she squirmed trying futilely to free herself before he decided to eat her, rape her, or whatever it is he decided to do to her. The second his eyes met her though she nearly gasped aloud. His eyes had changed to the most brilliant green! They practically screamed kindness and loyalty. His focus was stolen from her, though, as the leader of the cult had walked up to him then.

"M'lord! I welcome you to the land of mortals, I hope you accept our gift-" He gestured to Lucy and the demon had narrowed his eyes at the man. "-and grant us your magnificent power." He finished bowing deeply. The demon had tsk'ed distastefully at the man. "You expect this little girl to satisfy me?" His voice shocked her almost as much as his eyes had. Even though he sounded cruel and menacing, his voice was that of a boys! He sounded no older than she was and for a second the cult leader seemed puzzled by this as well. "O-of course not, we have many more sacrifices ready for you M'Lord" The demon just looked annoyed. As the cult members started dragging in more girls they had captured just like Lucy the demon walked over to the marble table she was on and she started to panic again.

He leaned over her placing his hands on either side of her face. He just stood there staring at her for the longest time before slowly leaning in and hovered with his lips inches from her neck. She heard him take in a long slow breath through his nose, before he sighed and pulled back.

"You smell of star dust and light..." Slowly he grinned a pointy toothed grin that, had it come from a normal boy, she would have blushed from the sight of.

In an instant he was across the room gripping the cult leader by the neck. The temperature in the room instantly skyrocketed to equal the intensity of the sun.

"Your choice of sacrifices insults me!" He yelled before tossing the man into the pyre.

Lucy watched horrified as the man caught fire and screamed in agony, the rest of the cult following suit as the demon completely destroyed each of them either through means of brute force or by lighting more of them on fire. When he was done he turned to the cowering girls still bound by ropes. With a snap of his fingers the ropes burned away without harming the girls. They gasped in surprise and he pointed to the door.

"Leave before i change my mind and consume you all!" Crying and shocked they all hurried out leaving Lucy, still tied to the table, alone with the demon.

He sighed and wiped the blood from his hands and face before turning to her.

"Sorry for all the gore, I'm sure it was hard to witness." As he talked he went about untieing her arms and legs. Once she was free she scurried away from him as fast as she could falling off the table.

"Kya!" She let out a small scream, closing her eye tight, waiting for the pain in her head to start. When it didn't she peeked out from one eye and saw the demon holding her grinning toothily again.

"You're a weird one that's for sure. Why'd you go and fall off the table like that?"

She just stared at him silently waiting for him to attack her or something. After a bit he must have realized she wasn't going to speak to him because he began to frown and sighed sounding annoyed.

"I just saved you from being pointlessly being sacrificed as well as bashing your skull on the ground the least you could do is say 'thank you'." His eyes had turned back to there onyx coloring.

"T-thank you..." She said quietly, looking away from him as she said it.

"Not convinced..." He set her on the floor and stood glaring down at her.

She didn't cower away from him this time, just sat there staring at him. As the time stretched on he began to figit and his eyes change to green again. The more she stared the more he figited and she soon found herself giggling at how little boy like he acted. The moment she did though, she instantly regretted it. The demon grinned mischievously and scooped her up in his arms. She let out another little "Kya!" as he clutched her close to his chest, his body temperature, she noticed was far above that of a normal human beings.

"What are you doing? Where are you taking me?!" She asked her voice getting more and more bold as she started to yell at the demon. He just smirked in answer before they were engulfed in flames. She remembered screaming before waking up in an unknown room on a lush bed covered in expensively foreign looking coverings and pillows. The room itself was freezing and she found herself wanting to bundle up under those wonderful looking blankets, but refused. He had kidnapped her! That damned demon saved her only to kidnap her for himself! Well she'd rather freeze to death than be a demons plaything!...


	2. Chapter 2

And that's how she found herself curled in a ball, on the cold ground, shivering. Taking the time to look around the room before she froze, she was amazed at the design of it. Her family had been well off, her father owned the largest farming land in the region, so she knew expensive taste when she saw it. The room had no windows, but evenly spaced on the walls were red and gold velvet drapes held up by iron workings of the highest craftsmanship. Hanging from the ceiling was another amazingly done iron working chandelier cradling a plethora of candles giving the room just enough light to make the room seem warm and comforting. She inwardly snorted. _Ironic considering I'm freezing to death here!_ The bed was a sight to behold! Not only did it look plush and comfortable, but it looked like something out of a romance novel which caused her to blush fiercely. It was one of those ones that had the tall corner beams holding up a roofed top draped with more red and gold curtains. Jeesh, whoever decorated this room had a thing for red and gold...and iron!

Across the room from her was an unlit fireplace adorned with what looked like dragon sculptures made from the same iron as the rest of the fixtures in the room. Atop the fire place was a porcelain figure of a red battle scarred dragon. _Huh. That's strange I'd always heard stories of how demons and dragons hated each other and always tried to wage war against the other...I guess that's not true?_ Suddenly she heard voices outside the door to the room and she recognized the voice of her capture.

"Do you think shes awake yet?" He asked whoever was with him.

"How the hell should I know fire breath?! Do I look like the brat to you?" The second voice was harsh and gravely. She heard the demon chuckle.

"Nah, I couldn't imagine you walking around in frilly dresses with your hair in pigtails, but I'd die to see that!" There was the sound of two hard objects smacking together and a yelp of pain before she heard one set of footsteps disappear down the hall.

There was a sigh and then the door opened. Lucy was totally confused when she saw him enter. He looked different, more...human! The horns were gone, all that remained of the scale were the lightest of designs on his skin, his eyes were the color of gems once again and the menacing aura was gone. His hair was still pink though...

He looked at the bed and saw she wasn't there. Lucy watched him go rigid before scanning the room for her. when he saw her he relaxed a bit. With a look of confusion on his face he walked towards her and crouched so they were eye level with one another.

"Watcha doin' in the corner? There's a comfy bed right over there. You should relax and make yourself at home."

When she did nothing but stay put and shiver his eyes darkened once again.

"Look I'm trying to be nice here and you're making it very difficult."

"W-why?" Her lips were going numb on her and it was hard to talk. His brow furrowed when he finally noticed her shivers and blue lips. He stood and walked over to the fireplace. Without a word he opened his mouth wide and shot flames at the logs waiting in their stand, catching them on fire easily. Once the fire was strong enough he went to the bed and stripped the top cover off, going over to Lucy and draping it around her.

"Sorry I forgot humans bodies don't burn at the same temperature as mine. Lets get you warm then we'll talk. Kay?"

She eyed him warily not wanting to agree, but the boyish look on his face made her trust him against all her better judgement. She nodded stiffly and squeaked when he picked her up and brought her to sit in front of the fire. She sighed contently when the warmth started to sink in.

The, now human looking, demon sat across from her and watched her carefully. She was just starting to feel uncomfortable under his intense gaze when he spoke.

"Natsu."

"Huh?" She said brilliantly. He smirked and repeated:

"Natsu, that's my name... well sort of, but that's what you can call me for now."

Natsu... that was an eastern name... if she remembered her studies correctly it meant summer. That was her favorite season!

"Lucy...Lucy Heartfilia..."

"Nice to meet you Lushi!" He grinned cheerily, pronouncing her name oddly.

"Why did you bring me here? And why haven't you killed me yet?" She asked finding her voice. Natsu was impressed she didn't sound scared she sounded demanding. He knew from the moment he first laid eyes on her she wasn't the type to scare easily. She seemed tough as nails to him, he liked it when people weren't afraid of him.

"Simply put? I thought you looked nice! I didn't like what those wakjobs were doing and had planned on getting rid of them anyways, but then I saw them bring you in as the 'sacrifice' and I got mad. I brought you here so my little sister could work her magic and fix you up!"

Her eyes got wide then as a brief understanding filled them followed by even more confusion. He pointed to his wrists and then her. She looked down and saw the wounds from the ropes that had bound her were almost completely healed.

"H-how-?"

"Wendy specializes in the healing of wounds. Shes real handy in a fight too, not that she'll ever agree with that statement of course..." He chuckled at the last part and she felt like she was missing something but didn't ask.

Instead she asked an entirely different question: "So if I'm all healed up can I go home now?"

He frowned at hearing that. Home? Why would she want to go home? He supposed she must want to see her family after everything that happened but still... he hadn't thought about her leaving at all. She smelled of the stars and that was a rare sent for a human to have... If he had been anything like he was a century and a half ago he would have locked her away for safe keeping and personal use with out a seconds thought. However he was different, he was better now, and he supposed that meant taking her home.

He faked a grin and nodded. "Soon as Wendy gives the all clear ill take you back."

The smile that graced her lips damn near stole his breath away. It made her look radiant; like a celestial maiden in all her brilliance. He looked away before a blush could dust his cheeks.

"I'll go see if shes free to take a look at you." After saying that he quickly left the room.

Lucy was dumbstruck! Natsu was so different than she expected. He was kind and had saved her. He even made sure that all her wounds were healed before he took her home. She thought for sure he was going to lock her away or keep her as a pet or something. The relief she felt at the knowledge was a huge burden off her chest. She didn't particularly want to go home, there wasn't much waiting for her there anyway, but she most certainly didn't want to stay in a home filled with who knew how many demons. Regardless of how Natsu treated her there was no way to know if the others were like him or not.

As she waited for Natsu to return with his healer friend, or, he'd actually called her his little sister... anyway Lucy took the time to uncover herself feeling much toastier and stretch out. Being stuck in that corner and then forced into a proper lady like sitting posture had killed her legs. _Hmm... I wonder if this healer girl could fix that too?_ She sat relaxing for some time when she heard the door open again. She looked up with a smile on her face to greet the healer when she saw who was really in the room.

He was by far the handsomest young man she'd ever seen. He had hair blonder than hers and icy blue eyes. the corner of his right eye had a scar marring his otherwise blemish free face. in his left ear hung a shard of crystal, she wasn't sure what kind. He had a smile almost like Natsu's except that his was cockier in a way. as he walked closer to her his grin grew.

"Hello there young miss, you must be the girl i heard big brother Natsu talking about. I'm Sting by the way" He held out his hand to her. She figured if he was Natsu's brother he couldn't be that bad right? so she took his hand and smiled.

"Nice to meet you I'm Lucy".

Bending down Sting kissed Lucy's knuckles gentlemanly like before taking a long sniff of her hand near her veins. She frowned wanting to pull her hand back but he kept a hold of it. When he looked back up at her his eyes had darkened like she had seen Natsu's eyes do. She gasped and his grin widened.

"You smell heavenly..."

Just as it looked like Sting might pounce on her and do who knows what, a ferocious growl sounded from the doorway. Lucy thought someone had let lose a wild animal. All she saw was a blur of colors colliding with sting and knocking him to the ground then pinning him there. As soon as they stopped moving Lucy saw it was actually Natsu who had tackled sting to the ground. He looked like a full on demon again, ready and willing to kill the other man. Keeping sting pinned to the ground he looked over to Lucy concern clear in his eyes.

"He didn't hurt you did he?"

"I didn't touch her!" Sting yelped as Natsu's knee dug farther into his back. He clearly wasn't going to listen to him no matter what he said. So Lucy spoke up instead.

"I'm fine Natsu he just said hello that's all!" He looked as if he didn't believe her and that ticked her off. As a side note she noticed when she called Natsu by his name sting had looked at her with an almost shocked expression. Ignoring all that she stood up and almost with out thinking ran over and kicked Natsu in the head. It wasn't so much that the strength of her kick is what made him get off Sting, it was the shock of being kicked in the head by this little girl! Lucy 'Hmph' ed' at the both of them.

"If you two don't mind I'd like to go home now!" They just blinked at her totally shocked by what she had just done. They didn't make an effort to move until they heard a familiar giggle from the door. All eyes went to the little girl standing in the doorway.

"Big Brother, Sting you two have the funniest looks on your faces!" She giggled more before finally walking in. Natsu bounced up off the floor giving Sting one final dirty look before walking over to the girl and patting her on the head.

"Its not nice to laugh at your brothers Wendy." He was trying to sound stern but it just wasn't there. Lucy could tell from the look on his face that in his eyes this girl could do no wrong.

Wendy just giggled and walked over to Lucy. "Hello Miss Lucy, I'm Wendy. How are you feeling?"

"Much better, I heard you fixed up my wrists and ankles for me, thank you."

"You also caught a nasty illness while in those cult members clutches, but it was just at its beginning stages so I was able to cure you of it easily." She said it in such a sweet and kindly manner that it took Lucy a minute to understand. Then the freak out happened...

"I HAD A WHATTTTTT?!" All three demons flinched at her screeching.

"Don't worry its gone now I promise!" Wendy reassured her trying to get her to calm down. It took a matter of minutes but Lucy was finally able to recapture her composer.

"So, I'm all cleared to go home right? No more wounds, no more-" she gulped "-illnesses right?"

"Right!" Wendy agreed cheerfully.

"Good then someone take me home!" She said enthusiastically. Natsu just sighed and shook his head.

"Alright, come on weirdo I'll do it. Just don't scream bloody murder in my ear again, got it?" As he talked he held out his arms for her and she didn't hesitate to walk over to him. She was glad to be leaving this hell hole!

"Farewell Miss Lucy" sting said as he bowed his head slightly and winked at her. She blushed a bit much to Natsu's annoyance.

"Bye bye Lucy!" Wendy waved as the two went up in flames again.

"She seemed nice."

"Nice and delicious." Sting licked his lips at the memory of Lucy's sent. Wendy scowled at him.

"Sting your lucky she vouged for you or you'd be dead right now! Don't make it worse by saying things that will anger big brother!" Wendy scolded him seeming much more intimidating than any normal little girl should.

"Yeah, yeah I know... Jeez your just as bad as Rouge! All he ever tells me is ' _Don't anger END by doing this'_ or ' _Don't anger him by doing that'_! END isn't the king of the world you know!"

"No but he is the strongest demon on our side of the war right now, and keeping him on our side takes priority." A tall intimidating man with a lightning shaped scar on the right side of his face walked in. Wendy bowed to him and Sting just scoffed.

"Wow Laxus you actually admitted that somebody is stronger than you? Is the world ending already?" Sting remarked sarcastically. Laxus just shook his head at the younger dragon demon.

"Just don't piss him off Sting that's all I ask." And with that he left the room.


	3. Chapter 3

Lucy lay in her bed trying but mostly failing to fall asleep. Her head was just too full of all the events that had gone down in the past month since she'd been captured.

Natsu had brought her home just as she asked. He made it so they materialized a short distance from her families main house so no one would notice the huge flames bursting out of nowhere. He had whistled at the size of her home.

"Snazzy place you got here! No wonder you wanted to come home." She almost winced at that last comment. She really didn't care for the vastness of her home. Its size just made it that much easier for her father to ignore her...

"Y-yeah... Thank you for saving me Natsu, and for bringing me home." She waved as she started down the path to her home. Once she was far enough away that she wouldn't hear him Natsu called out:

"Hey Happy come here" In a little poof of smoke a blue furred cat with wings appeared.

"Hey Natsu! Why haven't you called me in forever!?" The little cat complained at him while giving the demon his best pouty face. Natsu chuckled and placed a hand on the cats head.

"Sorry little buddy, but I need you to do something for me." As he spoke he waved a hand at the cats fur and it changed from blue to a chocolate brown.

"There's a human I want you to look after for me. See the girl walking a head of us? Her names Lucy and shes special so watch her for me."

"Lushi? hmm.. okay!"

"Your gonna have to pretend to be a normal cat though, I think she might get mad if she finds out I'm having you watch her." The cat cocked his head to the side confused but shrugged it off. His wings disappeared and he dropped to the ground.

"If something happens to her you call me okay?" Natsu asked.

"Aye sir!" Happy responded and started walking after Lucy, grumbling as he had to walk on all fours and wasn't used to it.

Once he was sure Happy could fake being a normal cat, Natsu disappeared back to his home.

Lucy had to bang on the door to get someone to answer as she didn't have a key to the front door. She had never needed one before. The instant the head maid saw it was her she burst into tears. Everyone fussed over her, bringing her clean clothes feeding her having the families doctor look her over. Not once did her father come down from his study to make sure she was okay or not. She honestly doubted he noticed she had been gone at all.

After they had all made sure she was okay the maids drew her a bath and left her to relax alone. The bath had felt amazing! She couldn't remember the last time she'd had one. Once she was clean and relaxed she went over to her desk to write a letter to her mother explaining that she was okay and that she was sorry for not writing in a while. That's when she heard the scratching at her window.

She walked over and was surprised to see a little kitty in her window. Smiling she opened it up and held out her hand to the small creature. He sniffed her hand before rubbing his head on it.

"Hello little fella, where'd you come from?" Happy meowed at her hating that he couldn't talk in front of her. Lucy picked him up and put him on her desk before closing the window.

"No reason for you to sleep out in the cold. I'm sure no one would mind if I kept you for a while. What do you think kitty?" Happy meowed again, slightly grateful at the thought as well.

"Hmm... What should I call you...?" Lucy sat in her chair and stared a good long time at happy considering a good name. Happy stared back trying to think of a normal cat way to tell her his name.

"Hmm... Oh! How about Scoofulfunts!" Happy fell off the desk from that one. If he were aloud to face palm he would have! What kind of name is that?!

"Oh kitty are you okay?!" Lucy asked picking him up and inspecting him to make sure he was okay. Happy inwardly sighed and meowed at her. If she was gonna call him a name like that this was gonna be harder than he thought.

"I guess you don't like that name...How about I just call you kitty until I know your personality better hmm?" Happy meowed and rubbed his head against her hoping she'd take it as a yes.

She giggled. "Alright kitty it is."

She had then asked one of her maids to bring him a bowl of milk and some cut up fish. He was liking Lucy more and more by the minute! He loved fish almost more than life itself! Happy practically pounced on the maid when she came with the fish, that made Lucy laugh and the maid grumble under her breath.

The rest of the night Lucy just sat on her bed and read, Happy curled up right next to her providing a comforting warmth.

When she finally attempted to sleep it ended with her just laying there wide awake thinking about all this over again.

She sighed and rolled onto her side and looked at her new friend. He was an adorable little cat. She hoped she'd be able to keep him. Her father thought pets were a waste of time and an unnecessary mess to have cleaned up after. With all she had been through maybe he would make an exception and accept the cat as a sort of coping mechanism for her. That was assuming much but it was what she hoped for...

Back with the demons Natsu was bored practically to tears listening to Laxus drone on and on about who knew what. Battle plans more than likely. He tried to remain interested really but his thoughts were so jumbled especially over that human girl! He almost hoped something would happen so he could go to her and bring her back again. It had been centuries since he'd smelled a human so full of magickal light. He wondered if she was full blooded human or not. Most of the time humans could only preform magick that summoned beings to them, any other magick they used was usually given as a gift from those beings. Rarely though you'd find that one human who's family line lead back to a magickal being who had got a little too frisky with the human who summoned them.

If that was the case with this Lucy girl then she would fit in very well with _that_ group. They were practically bursting at the seems with magick blooded humans. But he doubted she'd want to leave her home unless she was forced to. That had been one huge place! She must have had one big family to own a place that big. He almost envied her. Sure everyone here was like family to him. A few even called him big brother, but they weren't really his family. His family were either long dead or cursed and in hiding.

He remembered the other group he had once belonged to. They hadn't called him big brother... They'd probably been to scared of him to call him that. Scared or hated him, he wasn't sure which. Ironic how they were his enemies now.

"END did you hear me?" Laxus asked annoyed.

"Huh? What?" He said coming out of his thoughts. From beside him he heard Gajeel laugh with his distinctive "Giihee".

"I said; Once we have this platoons focus-" He gestured to the table where the war plans were mapped out. "- I want you to strike at their reinforcement camp. Keep them from ganging up on us alright?"

Natsu grinned. One of the very few things about Laxus he liked was the guy new he liked to work solo and never tried to force a partner on him.

"Got it sparky! I'm all fired up!"

"Don't call me sparky, pyro!" Laxus yelled back Lightning sparking around him a bit. Natsu just chuckled. Sparky was without a doubt the best nickname for the lightning dragon demon.

They finished their meeting shortly after and Natsu headed for the dining hall hoping to grab the best meat before the others got there. One of the things he liked about this group was they weren't afraid to oppose him on stuff. Like if someone wanted to fight over food with him they would, or if they got mad at him they called him names, his favorite was how some of them weren't afraid to piss him off. He was deffidently stronger than all of them combined but that didn't stop them from putting him in his place from time to time.

Four centuries ago he would have killed anyone who even thought about doing any of that. He demanded allegiance, loyalty, and obedience. He was cruel and hateful, and just plain evil in general. Then he'd fought Igneel the fire dragon and got a total change on his perception of life. He had damn near lost to the dragon and fully expected to be killed, but Igneel had spared him. Igneel had done so much more than that but thinking back on it hurt his heart to the point he wanted to rip the damned thing out. So often he'd shove those thoughts away and focus instead on shoving food into his mouth. Yes it was depressed eating; no he didn't care if it made him fat.

"Yo, Salamander a bunch of us are heading to the fairy hall you coming?" Gajeel asked from the doorway to the hall.

"Nah, Ima stay here and eat." He responded around a big bite of meat.

"Save some for the rest of us flame breath." Natsu gave him a thumbs up and he left.

Fairy tail... They were a fun group. All kinds of magick folks gathered there, but they were also that group he was thinking of sending Lucy to earlier. Founded about a hundred or so years ago by the last great fairy Mavis. Often it was used as a place where humans with magick blood could live in safety while they learned their powers, but recently it had become an HQ for anyone participating in the war. The dragon demons had allied with them to fight the Etharious demons who were trying to force their way into the human lands and take over. Admittedly it was a plan he had originally proposed and planned, but that's why he was here helping the other side. To try and make up for his past he was willing to fight his true brethren.

Come to think think of it Fairy Tail had a Lacrima screen that peered into the human lands so people could check on their human families. He could see how Lucy was doing!

Hopping up quickly he hurried to catch up to the others.


	4. Chapter 4

As always the fairy hall was a bustle with people and creatures eating, drinking, and laughing. War or no war Fairy Tail never changed. Natsu remembered the first time he'd entered the hall. It was just after he'd switched sides. The entire hall went deathly silent for a good two minutes before the yelling and screaming started. He remembered the braver members rushing to attack him, one in particular still sent a shiver down his spine. All he remembered seeing was a flash of scarlet and the shine of armor before a blade was pressed to his neck. To this day he was still terrified of Fairy Tails strongest women Erza Scarlet. He had heard that she was descendant of Vikings and wasn't surprised at all.

Walking in today he was greeted with smiles, some forced some not, and a few joking curse words. In the back corner he saw Gajeel conversing with a girl named Levy Mcgarden. Everyone assumed she was descendant of one of the Celtic deities of knowledge or language since she seemed so good with books and dead languages and stuff. Half the time Natsu couldn't even understand half of what she said he was amazed Gajeel felt so comfortable talking with her (in Natsu's mind Gajeel was dumber than himself).

Smirking a bit at the iron dragons failed attempts at flirting with the poor girl, Natsu made his way over to the bar. The white haired barmaid, Mirajane, smiled at him as he sat at the bar. She was probably the closest to a full blooded demon in this entire hall besides himself, but with just enough human blood in her to make her kind.

"Hey there END its been a while." She said cheerfully while handing him his regular flaming drink.

"Hey Mira, been busy with war stuff n' all." He took a big gulp of his drink while she handed someone else a drink. By the time she came back to him he had emptied his cup.

"Want a refill?" She asked taking his glass.

"Nah, hey is anyone using the peering lacrima?" Mira looked curiously at him.

"No, not right now. Why? Someone you want to see?" She asked trying her best to look innocent even though her eyes practically screamed curious demon.

"Sorta, just checking a few lose ends is all." He grinned toothily at her making her laugh.

"Okay go on in, I'll put the reserved sign up for you."

"Thanks Mira!"

He hopped up from his seat and headed to the room behind the bar next to the kitchen. The room was simple, no windows with just a chair in front of a 8x11 in' flat lacrima screen. He sat down in the chair and held his hand up to the lacrima, picturing Lucy in his mind. It took a moment but eventually the screen began to glow and soon enough there she was. It looked like she was asleep at first. There was no light on and she was in bed, but then the lacrima zoomed in and he got a clear shot of her face. She was crying. Anger pulsed through him for a second, murder of the bastard that had made her cry clear in his mind, until he noticed the picture she was holding. It looked like an older version of her, he assumed an older sister with how young the woman looked, but was shocked to hear Lucy call out for her mother while clutching the picture to her chest.

He watched as she did her best to hold in her cries, and every time she would sob she made sure to pet Happy in a way that kept him asleep. After a while she finished crying and put the picture of her mother on the pillow beside her and quickly passed out. _Jeez nothing like a good cry to help someone sleep I guess..._

He waited to see if she was really asleep before he shut off the lacrima and left the room. She didn't seem all that happy to be home...

He was in the middle of pondering all things Lucy when out of nowhere a fist came flying at him. Had he not been so lost in thought he would have easily dodged but sadly was caught off guard and suffered a bruised cheek because of it. He turned to glare at the culprit, a young man with raven colored hair, dark eyes, and an odd habit of losing his clothes. Gray. He and Gray shared the unique bond of hate at first sight. They tended to push each others buttons and it often lead to them brawling, but for Gray to outright slug him like that he must have pissed him off something good.

"The hell were you thinking flame brain!" He yelled at Natsu. Wincing and rubbing his ears, Natsu sighed.

"Gonna have to explain ice princess, 'cause i got no idea what you're talkin' 'bout." That seemed to piss Gray off more.

"Gramps told you we'd work with you only if you swore you wouldn't kill anyone other than the Etharious!" As he talked he tossed a strip of cloth at Natsu and he recognized the symbol on it. It was from the cult he'd saved Lucy from.

"You slaughtered twenty humans and didn't even bother to cover your tracks!"

All of Grays yapping was making his eye twitch and he was just about to tell him off when a giant hand closed around him. _Crap! The old man is pissed!_ Natsu was lifted up to the second floor railing where Makarov the current master of Fairy Tail had been sitting. Normally the old man could be considered a giant but in order to fit inside the building he learned to change his size. So currently he looked like your average little old man (who happened to have an extremely enlarged hand).

"Is what Gray said true? Did you break our deal?" He didn't yell, but the controlled fury in his expression told Natsu he needed to word his response carefully.

"I had to gramps. They were planning on killing a bunch of innocent girls. I did it to free them." He looked the old man in the eyes as he spoke, trying to express how much he had wanted to save those girls.

"You didn't have to kill them to save the girls. Incapacitating them would have worked just as well."

"Yeah and when they woke up they'd' ve gone and took the girls all over again, maybe even more!"

The old man sighed.

"You've got a lot to learn still about being good. Good guys don't kill."

"Who said I want to be the good guy? huh?" Natsu spat out, the old mans remark stabbing at his heart a bit.

"Then why are you here? Why did you say you wanted to make up for your past?" Natsu bit his lip, hating that he didn't have a response to that.

Makarov set him down and sighed. "You will be punished for killing those humans."

Natsu glared at the old man but didn't say anything. He just walked out of the hall, hands balled into fists at his side. People hurried to get out of his way, a dark aura coming from him. Be the good guy? The hell he would! Good guys had to follow rules, they had to wait on people hand and foot! Yes he wanted to make up for his past, but never in a million years would he ever consider himself the good guy.

Disappearing in a wall of flames he reappeared in Lucy's bedroom. It was like a sensory overload! Her sent was everywhere! He almost lost his balance from how strong it was. Regaining his senses, he walked over to the bed and saw her sleeping peacefully. the tears had dried and any distress she'd had before was gone. He smiled as he saw happy sleeping just as peacefully curled up against her side. He gave the little cat a loving pat on the head before exploring the rest of the room. She had a whole bookcase filled to the brim with books of every size and genre. He noticed though that most of them were romance novels. He chuckled a bit. Classic teenage girl: dreaming of a true loves kiss that would never come.

Exploring her desk he found a bunch of papers that looked to be of the schooling variety. Hidden in the drawers though he found something quite interesting. _Well what do you know! An aspiring novelist huh?_ He read through the story quickly liking all the classic humor he found in it. She wasn't that bad. A little on the novelist side, but with potential! He put the story back as he'd found it and sighed.

What was he doing? Sneaking around a girls room while she slept?! If Erza found out she kill him for sure! He looked over at Lucy again. So what if she smelled like stars, so what if she had cried herself to sleep. He was END, one of the greatest demons in the magickal plain! He should be back home helping Laxus plan and fight the war not obsess over some human girl! He was just about to leave when he heard her whimper. Turning back to face her, it looked as if she were having a nightmare.

Walking back over to her; she started whimpering more and heard her pleading for someone to stay away. He assumed she was reliving the cult members abducting her. Frowning he raised a hand hoping to comfort her in some way, but he wasn't sure how. He placed his hand on her head and stroked her hair a bit. That seemed to do the trick cause she stopped whimpering and pleading. He sighed a bit and went to leave when the next thing he knew he was on the floor with a serious throbbing in his head.

"Wha-?" He went to ask when he noticed Lucy glaring down at him like she was ready to murder him. Jeez and he thought Mira and Erza where scary?! Lucy looked about ten times scarier than the two of them put together!

"What are you doing here Natsu!" She whisper yelled at him.

"I just wanted to check on you! I wasn't gonna stay long but then you started whimpering in your sleep and I just..." He trailed off not sure how to explain the rest. He had no clue why he cared, he just did. His head snapped up when he heard her sigh. There was a small smile on her face that just confused him more.

"Wow your an idiot..."

"Hey!"

"Thank you for checking up on me, but next time try it when I'm awake 'kay?"

He blinked at her for a bit then grinned. "Okay!" He hopped up and patted her head, which she grumbled at.

"I'll be going now. By the way, I like your cat."

"Thanks I haven't figured out a name yet, but I hope I can keep him long enough to think of one."

"Hmm... Well I hope he makes you _Happy_." He disappeared after saying that and Lucy sighed.  
 _Happy huh?_ She looked at the cat and smiled. That would work.


	5. Chapter 5

For the next couple of weeks Lucy went about her life as normal as before aside from having Happy around. He had been surprised by her suddenly calling him that, but then he sensed an echo of Natsu's power in her room. He assumed Natsu visited her while Happy was asleep and hinted at his name. That was fine by him, it made his life a little easier. She had a simple routine she followed. She would wake up, get dressed, eat, study till after noon, then preoccupy herself until dinner, which happened to be the only time she saw her father he noticed.

They didn't really talk, well not to each other really. It seemed to Happy that her father liked to talk at her. He told her every night all the things he had planned for her and everything he expected her to do. She didn't act like herself around him either. The most she ever said to him was the appropriate responses to what her father said, no more, no less.

Natsu would visit at the end of every week right before she would go to sleep. The first time had been funny. Lucy freaked and kicked him in the head before she realized it was him. They'd quietly argued for a while that first night, but finally agreed Natsu could visit and Lucy wouldn't kick him anymore (unless he deserved it that is).

All they usually ended up doing was talk about anything and everything. Mostly Lucy had him tell her stories of his adventures. She called them her "Bedtime stories". Natsu kept trying to get her to open up about herself more but she always found a way to turn the conversation back to him.

This particular night Lucy had noticed some bandages around Natsu's arm and shoulder.

"What happened?" She asked pointing. Natsu looked at the bandages and shrugged giving her his signature grin.

"Just a flesh wound, some lower demon thought it'd be a good idea to try and take a chomp out of me. Don't worry he found I was too 'spicy' to eat and let go before it went too deep."

"Why did it attack you?" She asked still looking concerned.

"It was a battle, the magickal plain is at war right now."

"R-really? Why?" She scooted closer to him anticipating an answer. Happy thought she wasn't going to get one, at least not a full one anyway. He was shocked to hear Natsu admit the truth!

"Because of me. Because I used to be a really really bad demon. About two centuries ago I switched sides, but that doesn't change the fact I started it." Natsu hesitantly looked up at her to gauge her reaction. He expected shock and disgust. His eyes widened a bit. The shock was there, but so was another emotion he couldn't identify.

"So you were evil once." It wasn't said like an accusation, or a damnation. More like if she had said ' _oh so you used to be into sports that's cool_ ' with total nonchalance!

She giggled at his reaction. "Well I figured as much! Your a demon after all!"

He felt like face palming himself or laughing along with her. She was smart, he should have known she'd assume something like that.

"You're such a weirdo Luce." He ruffled her hair a bit and she grumbled at him.

"You're so not one to talk!" She complained back.

He spent the rest of their time asking and having her explain what the human plain was like since it had been centuries since he'd spent time there.

Natsu returned home that night feeling a bit unusual. He couldn't explain it but it felt as if the usual inferno inside him had dulled to a pleasant burn. It was as if all his worries and stress were gone. He noticed that he had felt similarly the last few times he returned from visiting Lucy but he never really reflected on it long enough to realize it. This human was doing something to him...and surprisingly... he kind of liked it!

He was heading down the hallway that lead to his room when someone grabbed him from behind. He growled and instantly went up in flames. The person who dared to grab him hissed in pain and let go cursing. Natsu turned to see who it was. Standing there clutching his hand was Cobra, the poison dragon demon.

"The hell you think you're doin' squinty eyes?" He ground out behind bared teeth.

"How many times do I have to tell you our eyes are the same shape!" Cobra spat back at him.

He and Cobra weren't the closest of the dragon demons. They've fought against each other many times over the centuries. Only here recently did Cobra join them, and it pissed Natsu off. He had been working two centuries to get everyone to believe and trust in him and they were barely starting to do so. Cobra it took a month for them to start trusting!

Sometimes Natsu felt like he just couldn't win...

"What ever snake boy, what do you want?"

"Rumors spreading about you spending a lot of time in the human plain..."

"So?" Natsu was instantly on edge at this news, but tried to play it off. Rumors about him were a bad thing now.

"People are saying you found something rare. That you plan to bring it back here." Natsu went full demon then and slammed Cobra against the wall.

"How'd you hear this? Huh? Who's the bastard giving away my secrets!?" Cobra hid his fear well. Centuries of combat against this particular demon taught him that hiding your emotions was the smartest thing you could do. Otherwise you found things you cherished ripped from you. Cobra hated END with every fiber of his being, but being on his good side was the important thing right now.

"A guy from one of the lower ranks, says he's been following you. Wanted to make sure you were actually on our side." Natsu was already heading out the door before Cobra was even done talking. Whoever this rat was they were gonna pay for spying on him! A rumor like that could put Lucy in danger! If someone from the other side caught wind of that rumor... He didn't even want to think of what they would do.

Natsu stormed through every camp, every HQ, and every meeting place for their side of the war. Everyone reacted with terror at seeing him so full of rage. The flames that surrounded him were so hot they melted everything within a 30 ft diameter of him. He'd gone through half the troupes searching for the one spreading rumors when he was stopped. He was just outside the building housing the hell hounds, Quatro Cerberus, when he found himself surrounded by the other dragon demons and a few Fairy Tail people.

"END, what do you think your doing?" Laxus demanded, braving the heat and stepping towards him.

"Out of the way Laxus, there's a rat spilling secrets, I'm gonna spill his guts!" Out of the corner of his eye he saw Erza change into her Flame Empress Armor. That was probably her best bet if it came down to fighting him. He'd still take her easily but she'd last longest in that.

"END, I understand the importance of finding out who this person is but look at yourself. Your reverting..." Lissanna, Mirajane's little sister said stepping forward a bit.

His flames died down a bit so she didn't get hurt by them. He liked Lissanna, she was the first person who had tried to trust him after he changed sides. He assumed they brought her along in the hopes she could talk him down.

"Look I don't know whats so important to you in the human world but I promise we'll help you protect what ever it is. Just let us help you and tone down the murderous intent okay?" He could tell that she was trying to make that last part funny. It didn't work but he did sigh a bit in defeat.

"Fine... But I'm still pissed and it'll take a while for the flames to die down..."

Everyone physically relaxed and sighed as well.

"We'll find the person spreading rumors for you. You just sit and cool down." Laxus said and started sending people off to search the remaining camps. He stuck around, Natsu was sure, to make sure he didn't go off on a rampage again. A few others did as well. Gajeel and Gray were off to the side keeping a close eye on him. Backing Laxus were his three groupies Freed, Evergreen, and Bickslow. Natsu was tempted to laugh. He remembered back before it had come out that Laxus was a dragon demon, people had believed him to be descendant of the famous thunder god Thor, and so his groupies had named themselves _The Thunder God Tribe_. Yeah, some god he was...

Natsu decided to sit and try to calm down. His flames fed off his rage and the quicker he got that under control the quicker they'd all get off his back. Taking his mind off the issue was the first step. So instead of thinking of the bastard he wanted to barbecue, he thought about Lucy. He still had no clue what she was and she was very good at hiding stuff about herself so any info he got wasn't going to come from her. He hoped Happy had found some stuff out, but it was hard to talk to his little buddy while Lucy was there. He still didn't want her to know he sent Happy to her. He had a feeling there was a Lucy Kick in store for him once she found out. He grinned remembering how embarrassed she was at the name he'd come up for that. She insisted he stop calling it that, but he refused. It was just too funny! She was supposed to be a proper high society lady and here she was constantly hitting and kicking a demon in the head every time he did something she didn't like.

"Hey you piece of flame what are you grinning like a fool about?" Gray walked over and asked.

"Nothing you need to know about ice prick." He responded back not bothering to hide his amusement at his thoughts. Gray just quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Whatever, by the way, what is this rare thing you found anyway?" Natsu's flames intensified again and Gray barely managed to move out of the way in time.

"Don't call her a thing! Her names Lucy and I don't know what this bastard was talking about calling her rare!" Laxus gave him an incredulous look.

"The human girl you saved? That's what this is about?"

"Human girl? You saved a human?" Gray asked astounded.

"You already knew about that!" Natsu gave him a look that screamed stupid.

"I did?"

"The humans I killed that you got me in trouble with gramps for. They were trying to sacrifice a bunch of girls to summon me. Lucy was one of the girls."

"He brought her back to our castle and had Wendy heal her. I thought you sent her home though?" Laxus asked..

"I did, but I left happy to keep an eye on her for me in case I didn't kill all the cult members. I go back once a week to check up on them and Lucy and I talk that's all." They all gave him dumbfounded looks.

"What?" He asked confused.

"She does know your a demon right?" Freed asked.

"Of course she does! She saw me in my demon form when we met!"

"A better question I suppose would be: Does she know what kind of demon you are?" Evergreen asked carefully, trying not to piss him off further.

He knew she wasn't talking specifics either, she meant his past. "We talked about that tonight. She didn't seem bothered by it..."

They were all quiet for a while after that and Natsu for once didn't mind the silence. He calmed his flames again and sighed. He had no idea how this rat had been able to follow him without notice. Was his interest in Lucy making him lose focus? No he wouldn't blame her for this. It was his own fault for not covering his tracks better. He'd have to be more careful from now on. And by all the Gods he would make this rat pay for having the audacity to put Lucy in danger!


	6. Chapter 6

It was quite a while before any news of the rat was found and END had fallen asleep. Gray was tempting death by drawing on his face, Gajeel eventually joining in. Lissanna sat off to the side watching slightly amused. She wasn't sure how to take the news about END and the human girl. Hoping it was just him attempting to be good and save someone, but she had a sneaking suspicion there was more to it than that. Lissanna wasn't afraid to admit she had feelings for the fire dragon demon. They hadn't always been there but slowly over the years she'd known him they had grown and the hope he would eventually reciprocate those feelings was strong.

When he had first joined Fairy Tail, all the older members had warned the younger ones to stay away from him; that he could easily be faking his sudden want for being good. She had taken the chance and talked to him. He was funny, adorable at times, and slightly dim. Thinking back she could tell when the first little bubbles of love began to form. It was back in the early days of him joining. His familiar happy had gotten sick and he had asked her for her help taking care of him.

She had been amazed at the concern and love he showed for the little creature. Lesser demons would have abandoned there familiars in that state and found a new one, but he refused to leave the little cats side till he was better. She remembered the look of pure joy in his face when Happy was finally better. Just the memory was enough to make her blush! Ever since then she had been very forward with him about how she felt, but he never returned the feelings. He just got real embarrassed and told her not to joke around like that.

She supposed he saw her more as a friend than anything, and if this thing with the human girl got serious, she'd be as supportive as possible of it. She didn't want to be one of those mean jealous girls who hated someone just for being with someone they liked. Those girls were petty and ugly and she'd never be like them.

"What are you thinking about so hard over here, Lissanna?"

Lissanna looked up to see a smiling Wendy standing in front of her.

"Oh, hey Wendy. Nothing just worried about Nat- I mean END."

Wendy smiled at her a little too knowingly for comfort.

"So does he let you call him Natsu in private too?" She asked sitting down next to Lissanna.

"He lets you?"

"Mhmm, I think its cause he thinks of me as a little sister but doesn't want to look weak in front of the other dragon demons. So he told me: 'END in front of everyone, Natsu when it's just us' so that's what I do." She finished with a giggle.

"He told me the same thing too. It's cute how he tries to act tough all the time. Everyone knows how strong he is, he doesn't need to prove it."

"But what if he thinks everyone would look down on him then?"

She didn't get to respond to that as her brother Elfman showed up then with news of the rat that had been following Natsu. They had found and captured him. Ezra was currently interrogating him which made everyone shudder. Natsu had yet to wake up and everyone knew that was for the best. He'd probably go rampaging again and try and clobber whoever this person was and no one would be able to get any info from him then. Master Makarov had a feeling that whoever the rat was, they were spying on Natsu for a reason and that reason was important to find out so he wanted to delay telling him for as long as possible. Laxus agreed and told Elfman to report back to Master that they'd delay for as long as possible. He nodded and left. Lissanna sighed. He wouldn't be happy about this when he found out.

It was another hour before someone bothered to wake him and tell him that the rat had been caught. He jumped up immediately still unaware of the markings on his face. He demanded to be taken to the place they were holding the guy, but got distracted by Gray and Gajeel's snickers.

"What are you two laughing about?" He snapped.

"Oh nothing…" Gray barely managed to get out in between chuckles.

"You look very charming Salamander, real gentlemanly!" Gajeel said bursting out laughing at the end.

Natsu looked at them like they were crazy before Evergreen handed him a mirror. They had drawn kitty whiskers, and mouth on him with a monocle and curly mustache. On his forehead read sir neko chan in Japanese characters. Oh they were dead…

A quick fight broke out and Natsu made sure to give them both a few good whacks before cleaning off his face. After that was all done he asked Laxus to take him to where they were holding the rat. Laxus was a bit suspicious of how calm he was acting now. He made sure to keep an eye on him as he led him back to the castle where the dragon demons lived. They were on their way to the dungeons under the castle when that dangerous aura END was known for came roaring back.

"No going berserk down here you got that Flame breath?" He said carefully eyeing the murderous look in Natsu's eyes.

"I got it. Simmer down Sparky I'm not gonna blow the place up or nothing." He said with a smirk. A little tick mark formed on Laxus's forehead at the name 'Sparky' but he ignored it for now. They reached the cell where Erza was holding the rat. The sight of her in bondage gear and crushing the man with her boot gave the two a pause. Her fashion sense just got stranger by the day.

"Um...Erza? How's the interrogating going?" She looked at them like nothing was a miss.

"Not well, he hasn't given me any answers yet."

"I've told you all I know I swear!" The guy squeaked out before Erza stomped on him again.

Natsu rolled his eyes. Her methods were effective but she had the tendency to get carried away. Not that he was any better but still. He didn't use freaky costumes to interrogate.

"Why don't you take a break Erza and let me, and END take a shot at him?" Laxus asked probably thinking the same as Natsu. She nodded and left the cell. The man sat up and looked as if the idea of them instead of Erza was a blessing.

The second she left the dungeon Natsu shot forward and took the man by the neck with a flaming hand.

"So why don't we start with everything you told Erza huh?" The man's eyes grew wide and he opened his mouth to cry out in pain but Natsu had too good of a grip on him, no sound came out.

"What's that? Couldn't quite hear you!" He tosses him on the ground and holds back the urge to kick him relentlessly. The old him wanted to come out so badly right now, but that wouldn't help right now. Laxus stood outside the cell impressed with his self-control. He half expected to have to intervene by now.

"T-they told me I had too! They were gonna blow up my village if I didn't spy on you! I didn't want to!" The man squeaked out soon as he could, blubbering all over himself.

"Who is this 'they' ?" Natsu asked angrily. His anxiety raised slightly having an idea of who this pathetic man was talking about.

"Tartarus.. The Etharious's." He whimpered.

Natsu had to use all the restraint he could possible muster up and not attack the man, but that didn't stop him from combusting. That made the man whimper more and Laxus took a step towards him anticipating a fight. Natsu took in a ragged breath and glared at the man.

"What all have you told them?" Natsu's voice had lost all its warmth and civility. He sounded every bit the demon he was.

"They know about the girl...and what she is."

He was just about to attack the man, And Laxus was already moving to intervene, when a nudge in the back of his mind made him pause. A second later he heard Happy calling for him.

"Happy! Lucy! Somethings wrong!"

"Go I'll be right behind you!" Laxus barely finished his sentence when Natsu went up in flames and disappeared.


	7. Chapter 7

Lucy had been deep in sleep, enjoying a dream about riding a shooting star in a race with a dragon, when someone started shaking her awake. She groaned and went to roll over when she felt a paw smack her in the face.

"C'mon Lushi you have to wake up!" Sleepily she opened an eye to see who was messing with her. Happy was standing on two legs and looking down at her frowning. She blinked at him at few times before saying:

"I'm still dreaming aren't I?" Happy sighed.

"No Lushi! This is real, Natsu asked me to keep an eye on you in case something bad happened, and something bad is happening!" He finished in a rush.

"Wait wha-?" She was about to ask when a strange pressure filled the air. She looked around wondering what it was. Happy looked scared. Seconds later there was an explosion on the other side of the mansion causing everything to shake horribly.

Lucy screamed and held her hands over her head. Happy grabbed her arm and started tugging.

"Lushi we gotta get out of here, there's a bad demon here!"

"W-wait my father I have to go to him!" She cried and hurried out of bed.

"Lushi they aren't after him!" Happy yelled.

Lucy was just about to ask him what he meant when another explosion went off, this time closer, knocking her to the ground. The door to her room flew off the hinges and a figure walked in. Happy flew to stand in between her and the figure, but another explosion, a smaller one, knocked him half way across the room.

"Happy!" Lucy screamed and went to help the unconscious cat when the figure grabbed her by her hair and dragged her back.

"So you're what all the fuss is about? I'm not impressed."

"L-let me go!" She struggled against him as best she could and the figure just sneered. He let lose a small explosion behind her head and she screamed in pain. Falling to the ground in pain, he made another explosion happen at her back and she was slammed into the ground. He let lose a few more small explosions at her and she screamed and screamed till it hurt but he wouldn't stop.

Lucy was starting to wish he'd just kill her and get it over with when she felt the air get hot and a familiar animalistic roar filled the air. She barely managed to turn her head to look in the direction the roar had come from. Standing there was a very demonic looking Natsu surrounded by flames. He looked at her and his eyes, being the darkest she'd ever seen them, narrowed in anger. She wanted to say something to him but the pain was too much, and her vision had started to fade to black.

Her attacker started to speak but she was too far gone to understand any of it. The last thing she remembered before passing out was Natsu lunging forward fists raised.

Natsu was livid. Lucy was on the floor passed out and bleeding, Happy was passed out near the bed bruised and battered. Jackal was going to pay for this! They were just beginning their battle when the little coward hightailed and ran! By the time Laxus had showed up for backup he was gone. Natsu wanted to go check on Lucy but couldn't, his flames wouldn't die down. He was too angry to help her and it just pissed him off more. Laxus had to be the one to pick her and Happy up to take them back to Wendy for healing.

Natsu stuck around after they left to calm himself and to check on the rest of the house. Once the flames died and he was able to transform back to his human-like form he left Lucy's room.

The damage to her home was severe. Everywhere he stepped there was debris and bodies. Damn Jackal... No mercy for humans as always. He remembered Lucy briefly mentioning her father once, so he went about finding him. He was just about to give up went a sent hit him. It was almost completely overwhelmed by blood, but he could still smell it. If Lucy were full human, he'd think she'd smell a lot more like this sent. Following his nose it leads him to the other side of the mansion to what he assumed was once a study because of all the books and the busted up desk.

The smell was stronger here and Natsu had to hold his breath for a minute so that it wouldn't make him dizzy. That's when he heard the groan from behind the desk. He hurried over and found Lucy's dad laying in a pool of blood, looking pale and too weak to last much longer.

"You're Lucy's dad right?" He asked kneeling beside the dying man.

Jude Heartfilia's eyes widened. He could tell this young man was not human in the least. Not having the time to worry about why a non-human was in his home, he mustered up as much strength he could and asked:

"I-is she safe? My daughter, is she safe?" Talking hurt, just breathing was enough to cause the man pain. Natsu nodded his head.

"She was hurt but a friend of mine is fixing her up as we speak. She'll be good as new in no time."

Jude sighed and relaxed some. She was safe that's all he cared about, all that kept him alive this long.

"I don't think I'll be able to get you to my friend though…" Natsu said hating himself for that fact. Jude just smiled.

"As long as she's safe I don't mind. I'll be with her mother soon anyways…" He paused for a minute and mustered the last of what he had in him to speak his final words.

"In my desk… package for her… from her mother n' me-…" With that the life left his eyes and he went still. Natsu cursed and punched the ground. Slowly he reached out and closed the man's eyes then sighed. He was going to have to be the one to tell Lucy her father was dead… Not a conversation he was looking forward to.

Focusing he went through what was left of the des until he found a box with a bunch of stars carved into the wood. He figured this had to be what he was talking about. He tried to open it but was met with a barrier. Runes popped up and read: Only those beloved of the stars may open this box. Well didn't that just figure?

He sighed and tucked the box under his arm. With one final look around the house he was sure there was no one left to attempt to save. Running a weary hand over his face he made sure to grab the picture of Lucy's mom before he left. With a heavy heart and righteous anger raising Natsu knew one thing for certain: He finally had a reason to fight seriously in this war.


	8. Chapter 8

When he got back to the castle Natsu was surprised to see so many people there. Most of Fairy Tail's top people were there. Gramps, Erza, Gray, the thunder god tribe, Mira and her siblings, and Juvia (though with her Natsu figured she just showed up 'cause Gray did). When they finally noticed his presence they at stared at him expectantly. If he weren't so preoccupied with other stuff in his head he would have squirmed from the attention.

"Good your finally back, the rest of us would like to be informed on what all happened in the human realm." Gramps said before grabbing his mug of beer.

"Um… Do you mind waiting? I wanna check on Lucy real quick." That got him a lot of quirked eyebrows, but he ignored them.

"Wendy is still working on her, it would be better to leave her be for now." Erza explained and Natsu frowned. He wanted to see her! It didn't matter if she was unconscious or being treated. He turned to go to her anyway.

"I'll just poke my head in, honestly it won't take that lo-". He was jerked back by his collar and landed on his butt. He looked up to see who the idiot that had done that was, only to gulp in fear. Of course it was Erza!

"I said: 'Wendy is working on her, leave her be for now'". She was so scary looking all Natsu managed to get out was a small Happy like _Aye_.

"Good now tell us what happened." She said as she dragged him back into the room, everyone else sweat dropping at her actions. Only the great Titania could reduce the mighty END to a cowering simpleton.

Once he was seated Natsu went about explaining Jackals attack in as much detail as possible, but with how brief the encounter was, there wasn't much to explain. They all figured getting Lucy's and Happy's sides of the story was a good idea before they discussed it further.

"That being said, END would you mind explaining what that girl is? We were all able to tell she wasn't fully human, but that's all. After all, that spy said that you had found something rare, he must have meant Lucy right?" Mira asked. The others nodded in agreement.

"Of course he'd say something like that. After all I'm pretty sure she's a Star Child." Everyone gasped and looked at him disbelieving.

"That's a load of crap! Yukino is the only Star Child left! Before her it's been centuries since a Star Child has been found!" Sting yelled not caring that Rouge was giving him his signature 'calm down you idiot' stare.

"Exactly! That's why I was so confused when I first smelled her sent. It didn't make sense. That's why I've been hanging around her so much. I wanted to make sure I wasn't just smelling things. I got my final bit of proof tonight. Her dad told me to give this to her before he died."

He set the box he had found on the table in front of him and proceeded to try and open it so they could see the runes. Freed was instantly there examining the magic used to seal the box. He was an expert at using magick runes. It was still uncertain who was better with written magicks: him or Levy, but they were both capable with that sort of thing.

"This is a powerful enchantment. Whatever is inside must be quite important." Freed said while inspecting the box.

"Can you dispel it?" Laxus asked.

"It would take time but-"

"No, don't do that. This is Lucy's gift from her parents! She gets to decide if she wants it dispelled or not!" Natsu said, angry that they would be so disrespectful. Presents from parents were important and for someone other than the kid to go and ruin them… The thought made him almost combust.

"I agree let's wait for the girl to wake and decide what she wants. " Gramps said making Natsu calm a bit.

"But we need to know if she's really a Star child or not." Sting said, trying to sound as respectful as possible to Makarov even though he disagreed with him.

"Again, it can wait. We'll let her rest and deal with what's happened then we can ask her. Remember that she did just lose her home and family, that is going to be hard on her." Natsu could have hugged the old man! He felt it was wrong to rush her into everything when she hadn't even healed yet.

Lucy felt horrible! She ached everywhere and her head felt like someone had taken a hot pan to the back of it. She was currently lying on her stomach with her head turned to the side. She could tell she was back in the room Natsu had put her in the first time she met him. She wanted to move into a better position so she could get comfortable, but the second she tried her whole body was racked with pain. She groaned and buried her face in the pillow she was using. This sucks! Stupid whoever it was that attacked her! And then it hit her: Where was her father?! Panicking over that made her push through the pain and sit up properly. Taking a moment to breathe through the pain; in the corner of her eye she noticed something blue at the foot of the bed. Turning to look at it properly she found it was a cat! A blue cat! _Wait a minute...Happy?!_ Well if he could talk then he could be blue too she supposed. The poor little guy though. He had a few bandages around his body and head. He had stood between her and her attacker and got hurt.

A swell of affection for the odd little feline grew in her chest. She'd have to thank him for that later. Bracing herself she slowly worked her way to standing. She could tell Wendy had been working on her recently because of how fresh her bandages were. Another person she'd have to thank later. Sighing, she realized her night gown had been torn to shreds; it was barely hanging off her body now.

"I can't leave this room looking like this…" She mumbled to herself.

"Good thing I'm here huh"

Lucy jumped at the voice and noticed a woman come into the room. She was stunning with her long white hair and sapphire blue eyes. Her smile was sweet and friendly and the dress she wore was hugging her curves in all the right places. Lucy blushed. That was diffidently and inappropriate dress, it showed off her ankles and arms!

"I'm glad you're awake, my name is Mirajane, Mira works just fine as well. I came to check on you and bring you some new clothes." She said holding up the bundle of folded cloth in her arms.

"O-oh… Thank you... Are you one of Natsu's friends?" Mira gave her an odd look when she said that, but she covered it up with a friendly smile.

"Well I'm not sure how he feels about that but I like to think of myself as his friend." She replied smoothly. "How about I help you change then take you to the dining hall for some food, sleeping almost all day, you must be hungry."

"I've been asleep all day?!" Mira nodded.

"What happened to my father? Is he okay? That person last night they attacked the whole house not just me!"

"Calm down Lucy, we can talk after you're taken care of. You're hurt and need food to help heal faster. You won't do anybody any good if you're starved."

Lucy could hear the truth in her words but she was so worried she didn't think she'd be able to eat anything. She was about to tell the woman no when a small voice behind her had her turning around.

"Lushi, you should listen to Mira she's smart." Happy had woken up and was rubbing his eyes with his paw.

"Oh Happy you're awake, how are you feeling?" She gently picked the little cat up and held him carefully.

"I could use a big fish to help me feel better…" Him talking was going to take some getting used to, though ironically enough she was already used to him being blue instead of brown.

"Then let's go get you a fish."

"You gotta eat too Lushi." She sighed and nodded. They weren't going to leave her be on that.

"Good now let's get you dressed. I picked this outfit because I thought it would be easier on your wounds as well as look good on you!" Mira said perkily.

"Um thanks Mira…"

Once Lucy was done getting dressed, (with some help from Mira since she still was having trouble moving her arms too much) she took a look at herself in the mirror.

"Um…Is this dress really appropriate here?" She'd asked for about the millionth time it felt like.

The dress was cute and Lucy liked it but… It was too damn embarrassing! It was a lovely shade of lavender with gold trim around the top, bottom, and end of the one sleeve. The top covered one shoulder then cut off to wrap around her chest leaving her other arm bare. Around her mid-section was a thick gold belt that made the dress hug her body. The dress ended just short of her knees. All the dresses she was used to hardly showed anything besides her chest and maybe her shoulders.

"Of course, women in the magickal plane aren't bound by rules like they are in the human plains. We're free to wear what we want and act like we want."

"That sounds nice…" Freedom to be who she wanted to be… she had always wanted that.

They set out for the dining hall after that and Lucy was amazed at the extravagance around her. The whole place seemed simple with very few decorating details, but what was there simply blew her mind. More of the iron workings she had seen in the other room was used in the rest of the building. Tapestries covered some of the walls depicting anything from dragons in flight to demon at war.

"So who all lives here?" Lucy asked, curious about Natsu's roommates.

"Just the dragon demons. Occasionally they'll have guests over but they don't usually let outsiders stay long. There are seven of them right now. It's a good thing this castle is so large because with that many dragons in one home, there would be no end to the fighting that would ensue." Mira giggled a bit.

"That's not true Mira; some of them have familiars they let stay here. Like me!" Happy said obviously miffed at being left out of the count.

"I'm sorry Happy you're right. If you count the familiars that makes twelve people who live here."

"Wow… Hold up I thought all the stories say that dragons and demons didn't get along?" Lucy asked confused.

"That's true, actually I'm surprised you now that. The old tales say that long ago demons and dragons fought over control for the magical plane it was a war to equal the one we are currently in. Eventually the dragons deemed the fight unnecessary and called a truce, shortly after that they all disappeared for a couple hundred centuries.

When the war between the Etharious demons and the rest of us started the dragon demons showed up claiming that they had received centuries of training from different dragons so that they held the same powers as them. Of course no one believed dragons would do such a thing so the first thing most of them did was rush out onto the battlefield to prove themselves. It was amazing, and since then they've been our main fighters in the war."

"Wow... It all sounds so amazing! Of course thats probably just because I'm human. It must seem pretty ordinary to you all." Lucy blushed feeling stupid for getting so amzed by it.

"No it was pretty amazing for us too. Dragon demons had never been heard of before, to be half of two of the most powerful beings in the magickal plain... They are all quite awe inspiring thats for sure." Mira smiled at Lucy as she said that.

They finally reached the doors to the dinning hall. Yelling and laughing could be heard in abundance even with the thick wooden door closed firmly. Lucy was suddenly nervous to meet more nonhuman beings. Mira seem to notice and gave her a reasurring smile.

"Dont worry some of my friends from Fairy Tail came over to visit the dragons, they usually cause a rukus when they all get together. Oh! Fairy Tail is a guild for halflings and magick folk." Lucy just nodded like she understood that last part still feeling nervous.

Mira opened the door and the noise in the room instantly died down and all eyes went to her. She gulped and smiled nervously. She didn't have to fake her smile long as a familiar head of pink hair came hurrying towards her grinning that toothy smile she was coming to enjoy so much.

"Lucy! You're awake! I was getting worried, especially since nobody would let me come check on you." He shot a glare at the red head in a suit of armor in the corner before turning to grin at her again.

"Sorry for worrying you, but thank you for saving me...again." She didn't know if she should call him Natsu in front of so many people since she kept getting wierd looks everytime she did.

"No problem Luce! Now come and sit down, I bet you're starved and I wanna introduce you to everyone." He grabbed her hand and dragged her over to where he had been sitting previously letting her take his seat and going to get one for himself.

Once he was seated he started piling food onto a plate a mile high. Lucy chucked a bit not suprised that he'd be a big eater. What did surprise her was when he set the plate down in front of her and told her in a firm vioce: "Eat", And continued to make himself an even larger plate of food. Lucy stared at the mountain of food in front of her. Surely he didn't expect her to eat all of this?! She looked at him and saw him giving her a determind look and she sighed. He most certainly did.

Rolling her eyes she started on the food eating slowly and picking her way past most of the meats, why he had given her so much was beyond her. When she was full she pushed the plate towards him and with out a word he proceded to finish off what she hadn't eaten.

Mira and Happy had a point earlier, now that she had some food in her belly she did feel somewhat better. All she really needed now was a good long bath and for her wounds to heal and she'd feel 100% again! While she waited for Natsu to finish eating she wondered if like last time he'd make her stay until she was fully healed and cleared by Wendy to go home before she could. If she could recover at home and maybe have Wendy come check up on her that would be great, but she highly doubted he'd agree to that concidering what had happened. Speaking of which...

"Um... Natsu...?" She said it quietly hoping he'd be the only one to hear her, but everyone seemed to and quieted up realy quick. They all gave her that look she was coming to expect when ever she said his name.

He just looked at her with a full mouth, his cheeks puffing out from how stuffed they were, and gave her a curious look.

"What happened to my home? Were... Were anybody else hurt?" She asked dreading what answer he would give her.

He set his food down and swallowed what was left in his mouth before turning to her.

"Lucy you're still not feel so great. You dont need to worry about that right now. Hey how about I introduce you to eve-"

"I need to know now or I'll burst with all the worry of what your answer might be!" She hadn't meant to yell but she couldn't stand anymore diversions from people. Natsu didn't look offended thankfully, everyone else seemed a bit surprised though.

"Alright then Luce." He took a breath and told her the truth.

"After the guy that attacked you left I had Laxus bring you and Happy to Wendy. Once you were safe I went to look for your dad... I'm sorry Lucy, but he didn't make it."

Lucy had a feeling that was what he was going to say but hearing it still hit her hard. She bowed her head and with a shakey vioce asked:

"Did... did he suffer much?"

"I dont think so, but I cant be certain." A few people had the earge to smack him for his bluntness but Lucy just nodded and thanked him for the truth.

Quite a few had expected tears by now but Lucy didn't even heave a shuddery breath, which confused most of them.

"I guess thats it... I'm officially alone.." She hadnt meant to say it outloud but once it was out there she couldnt really do much about it. Natsu on the other hand could.

"Hey thats not true you could stick around with us! We wouldn't let you feel alone would we guys?"

A series of yes's and sures chorused around her and she felt the tears come finaly.

"Thank you, thats very kind of you all but..."

"But what Lushi?" Happy asked.

"I'm human. Would it really be okay for me to stay?"

It got real quiet again as they all stared at her in shock. Did they not know she was human or something? Natsu sighed beside her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah about that...Luce we need to talk."


	9. Chapter 9

Makarov (as the old man had introduced himself to Lucy) had decided it would be easier on Lucy if he and Natsu gave her an explanation alone with out an audience. He had been right Lucy afterwards had been grateful to the old man for his considerate thinking. They had taken her back to the room she kept waking up in. Though she guessed now she should refer to it as Natsu's room as that's where he said they were going when they first left the dinning hall. She kind of blushed at the thought that she had been sleeping in the same bed Natsu used.

Makarov told her to have a seat on the bed and Natsu plopped down next to her. Lucy had to resist the erg to squirm embarrassedly when he draped an arm over her shoulders casually. Makarov cleared his throat and started speaking.

"Lucy it has come to our attention that you are unaware of certain... traits about yourself that are very important to know." Upon Lucy's confused stare he continued.

"You are well aware that humans have the ability to summon us magick folk to them under the right circumstances correct?" She nodded looking at Natsu from the corner of her eye.

"Most of the time humans can only preform enough magick that can summon beings to them, any other magick they can use is usually given as a gift from those beings if they feel it is deserved or if they are just in a giving mood. Which doesn't happen very often anymore as humans tend to misuse the powers we can give.

Rarely though you'll find a magick being that got a little too close to the human who summoned them and they end up having a family together. The children of those families being able to use magick. Most of the people you saw in there are like that. Descendant of both magick and mortal blood."

Lucy felt her eyes widen. She thought it was strange how most of them seemed so human to her. That certainly explained some things, but not what any of this had to do with her.

"You my dear are another thing entirely." The old man said giving her, what she could only describe as, an amused look.

"W-what do you mean? I'm human aren't I?!"

"Well yes and no. You're human but not entirely." Natsu said giving her a grin.

"You see Luce, countless cultures around the world have myths about the stars. Stories of how they are really angels watching over us, or deities guiding us. Their not entirely true, but not completely untrue as well.

Stars are the physical representations of our souls, and for every star there's a soul that's bound to it. When we die, our souls return to our stars for a short time to heal and watch over our loved ones. When we've healed from the sorrows and pain of our latest lives we return and start life all over again. That's how reincarnation works really. We keep being reborn until we've learned all that we can and finally get everything right, then we go to the final here after and our star fades."

Makarov picked up the rest of the explanation:

"Its the greatest desire for all those who live in the magickal realm: To find out which star is ours and learn the true natures of our souls, but also because there's power in knowing what star is yours. Those who have found there star come to be known as Star Children. It's been centuries since a Star Child has been found and we know of only one other besides you."

Lucy's mind was realling! This was making no sense to her at all! Although the story of how peoples souls turned into stars sounded familiar to her for some reason.

"How do you guys know that's really what I am? After all I can't use magick!"

"That's easy Luce, 'cause you smell like starlight!"

Makarov whacked him over the head for that one.

"Ow gramps what the hell!?"

"That was a horrible explanation Natsu! That is not the only reason we believe this Lucy, arguably we aren't 100% sure that you are a Star Child, but it is clear that human is not all that you are. We all can sense latent magick in you." Makarov explained and Lucy felt as if her head was going to implode on her.

"There are several possible methods of confirming what kind of magick is flowing through you, however it is entirely up to you. We wont force you into anything. If you'd rather not know that's your decision." He said the last part giving Natsu a hard stare.

Turning to look at him, Natsu looked as if he wanted badly to protest to that last part. When he felt her stare on him, he turned to look at Lucy and grin.

"Yeah Luce your choice totally!"

"...Natsu, what is it? You want to say something else."

Letting out a puff of air and rubbing the back of his head he sighed.

"You caught me Luce. Dang your smart."

"And you're avoiding the issue." Lucy was getting annoyed now.

She was about to ask again when he turned serious.

"Truth is it would be better if you did learn what your magick is and how to use it. The people that attacked you, they will try again. now that they know about you they wont stop. We can protect you the best we can but should they slip through it would be best if you knew how to protect yourself."

Looking to Makarov, the old man sighed and nodded.

"Sadly it is true, they are... tenacious demons."

Fear suddenly spiked in her. They would come after her again? Why? What did she ever do to deserve all this? Even if she was some rare magick person or what not did that really mean she should be hunted down and killed?!

"I...I'd like some time to think about it. My head is kind of hurting."

"Of course take all the time you need." Makarov said before leaving the room.

"Do you want me to get Wendy for you?" Natsu asked. She shook her head no and he sighed.

"Alright, well I guess for now you can stay here until we find you another place to stay... Hmm... Maybe you could stay with someone from the guild... I'll ask around for you, but until then make yourself at home 'kay Luce?"

"Okay thank you Natsu... Can you show me what room I can stay in? I'd kind of like to sleep for a while...more like a week eh heh."

Natsu chuckled a bit at her lame joke and motioned to his bed.

"Just go a head and sleep here I'll be up for a while still so it wont matter that much."

Lucy blushed deeply. Was he seriously suggesting they share a bed?! Why would he even suggest such a thing? Over the coarse of time shes gotten to know him she realized he was a bit dense but he couldn't honestly not think there wasn't anything wrong with what he suggested could he? or maybe it was that he wasn't as dense as he acted and he had other motives for saying she could stay in his room? Holy cow what if that was it?! he is a demon after all!

Lucy was pulled out of her mental pandemonium when she felt a hand on her forehead. She looked up to see Natsu with a concerned look on his face.

"Are you feeling okay Luce? Your face just got all red and I can hear your heart beating really fast. Maybe I should go get Wendy after all..."

"N-no really I'm fine I just need some more rest that's all but Natsu-"

"Alright then I'll let you sleep. I'll see you in the morning Luce!" He patted her head a bit before giving her his signature grin and leaving the room. She sighed feeling her head pound from stress and annoyance. He hadn't let her ask for a separate room... That meant they were going to share his. Just great.

Natsu grinned to himself. Lucy was just too fun to mess with! He figured she'd be against sharing a bed with him. She was used to the human realms standards of "propriety" (Levy had taught him that word) and just as he'd expected she would she'd gotten all flustered and beat faced. Playing a dense fool in front of her was amusing him greatly. It let him get away with so much, if she hung around long enough he was almost nervous how she would react to finding him out about it. In her own way she could be pretty scary, and those damn Lucy Kicks of hers hurt like hell!

Returning to the dinning hall he found most of the Fairy Tailers had left. All that was left were Laxus's groupies. He rolled his eyes at Freed's over the top praises. Sitting down in his usual spot Natsu grabbed a drink and sighed contently. Sadly his relaxing wasn't to last. Gajeel plopped himself down beside Natsu. With a piece of scrap metal hanging from his mouth, he glared at Natsu until he was forced to acknowledge the iron dragon demon.

"What do you want rivet face?"

"Some o' 'em are starting to question yur sanity salamander. You aint been actin' like yurself lately. 'Specially since they heard bunny girl call you by yur real name...You okay with that?"

Natsu quirked an eyebrow at his nickname for Lucy but chose not to question him on it. He was weird with nicknames, hence Gajeel always calling him salamander.

"What do you mean I haven't been myself? I'm acting totally normal!"

"Yur fussin' over some girl you barely know. I get it she's somethin' rare and keeping her safe is important n' all, but yur actin' down right possessive of her... You aint-"

"So what if I barely know her? Lucy is nice and I get along with her. She's not scared of me either."

Gajeel just sat there staring at him for a bit before sighing and smacking him on the back of the head.

"OW! What was that for?!" Natsu yelped and readied to hit Gajeel back.

"For being an idiot." And he walked off.

Natsu sat staring after him annoyed beyond words. Stupid Gajeel, what was his deal? Shaking his head he grabbed his drink and tried to relax again. Was he really acting all that different? Admittedly he wasn't very good at being aware of himself most of the time. Often times he didn't even care how he acted unless he caught himself reverting back to his old self, then he cared. Maybe he should be more careful with that. He didn't want the others thinking less of him just cause he started acting different.

Downing the rest of his drink he decided to go kill some time in the training rooms. Hopefully by the time he wore himself out Lucy would be asleep and wouldn't fight him on the sharing a bed issue. No way was he leaving her alone in this castle all night long. He may respect the heck out of his fellow dragon demons but some of them just could not be trusted with an innocent girl. Himself included admittedly but he was working on it.

After a thorough training session Natsu was finally tired enough to attempt sleep. Sometimes having as much energy and stamina as he did backfired on him. Everyone always wondered why he passed out randomly all the time. Often he just wasn't tired enough to sleep all night so he'd make up for it by finding somewhere to just pass out for a while.

Hey it worked for him so why should he care? Still the strange looks people gave him sometimes just pissed him off. When were people going to realize he was different and leave him alone about it? Like he didn't have enough to deal with...Wow he really was tired, he was actually complaining in his head about random crap. Heh heh mission accomplished!

He slowly made his way back to his room and sighed in relief when he finally got there. Stepping quietly into his restroom he washed up quickly getting the stink of sweat off him before going to crawl into bed. Nights like these he was glad for the comfort of a decent bed. Not that he hadn't liked sleeping under the stars with Igneel all those years but after a while sleeping on the ground got to you.

Lucy was sound asleep and didn't even stir at his joining her. He smiled a bit to himself liking the mixing of his and her sent that was happening. The two blended well in his opinion. Often it wasn't that some people had gross sents or anything, he just didn't like the way their sents mixed with his own. The end effect wasn't always pleasant. settling himself in, he got comfy on his side of the bed. See? He was being good! Lucy had nothing to fear from him, he could behave himself.


	10. Chapter 10

**Authors Note: Many of you keep commenting on how I am spelling the word Magick. Just to let you all know this is the old world form of spelling it and often refers to actual magick instead of _magic_ which is the crap performers in Vegas do. Being as I'm Wiccan I was always taught to spell it this way to keep it clear in my mind the difference between the two. Thank you and please enjoy the rest of the story.**

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The next morning:

"KYAAA!"

Natsu's ears felt like they were bleeding from the sudden noise. He also felt a searing pain in his head and found himself on the floor. All he knew was one minute he was having a lovely dream about beating Gray and Erza in a fight, the next his ears and head were in complete agony. Looking around he found Lucy still in bed giving him the scariest look anyone has ever given him. He gulped impulsively and gave her a forced smile.

"H-hey Luce... Did you sleep well?"

She just glared at him more. He noticed she was blushing and holding her stomach as if guarding it from something. That's when it clicked in his head: more than likely, she had woken up to him cuddling with her... Well crap.

So much for behaving himself...

Lucy woke up feeling pleasantly warm and well rested. She sighed contently feeling as if she could lie in bed for hours. She was just about to nuzzle her way back into sleep when she realized someone had a hold on her waist!

Letting out a startled scream she failed her arm behind her until she felt it make contact with what she was pretty sure was a head. There was a startled yelp and the arms let go shortly followed by a muffled thud.

Scrambling to sit up, she turned towards the person now on the floor only now remembering who it was she was supposed to share a room with. Seeing Natsu on the floor covering his ears and squeezing his eyes shut, Lucy felt a spark of rage bubble inside her. When he looked up at her she saw a look of pure terror cross his face and the urge to smirk evilly grew very strong, she was able to hold it at bay though.

Natsu made a lame attempt at distracting her with a morning greeting. When she made it obvious it hadn't worked he kind of just sat there awkwardly. After a bit Lucy sighed and shook her head which caused her neck to pop painfully. She groaned and clutched the area that had popped. Natsu was instantly by her side again.

"That sounded painful, are you okay Luce?" He asked concern clear on his face.

"Yeah... My neck is just really stiff. I guess that's to be expected though."

She was about to say all she needed was a nice hot bath to loosen up the muscles when he shifted so he was sitting behind her and started massage her neck. A furious blush crept over her face and she was about ready to pull away to smack the crap out of him when the warmth of his hands sunk in. She could tell he was using his magick to make his hands warmer than normal. The combination of warmth and his fingers kneading their way through her stiff muscles was wonderful, better than the bath she had been about to ask for.

Sighing contently she relaxed into his touch, not even bothering to complain about how improper this was. Natsu smirked. This was working out better than he had planned. Don't get him wrong, he was glad he could make Lucy's pain go away. However the contented sighs and relaxed way she leaned into his hands had him grinning in way that _could_ be considered mischievous, that is, if anyone could see him.

He continued to knead his fingers in the muscles of her neck for a while longer until he no longer felt the tension in them. He was contemplating doing more when his ears picked up the sound of footsteps heading down the hall. Figuring they were more than likely head this way he stopped what he was doing and moved away from Lucy begrudgingly. She turned to thank him just as there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Natsu spoke and the door opened to reveal Wendy.

"Good morning big brother, Miss Lucy."

They both said their good mornings as Wendy walked towards the bed and Lucy.

"How are you feeling this morning miss Lucy?"

"I'm still a bit sore in some places but other than that I'm great. You're really amazing Wendy that's for sure!"

The small girl blushed and mumbled a denial. While the two conversed he went about getting ready for the day, getting his clothes and heading for the bathroom to change and wash his face. When he had come back out, Wendy had suggested Lucy take a bath before Wendy would re-bandage her wounds so they'd be clean. He nodded pointing out some bathing oils he had received as a gift but didn't use before leaving the room. He wasn't worried leaving her in Wendy's care. That little kid could be feisty when she wanted too and was extremely protective of her patients. So with a goofy and relaxed grin on his face and his hands behind his head; he headed to the dining hall for breakfast.

After having Wendy explain what each of the oils Natsu had pointed out were, Lucy chose one and went to take her bath. She had to admit, the tub was impressive! It was diffidently bigger than the one she has…scratch that: had. Sighing at her negative thoughts she stripped from her clothes and carefully unwrapped her bandages. Angling herself so she could check them out in the mirror she blanched at the sight. Okay feeling better or not, she certainly didn't look better. Her skin was still all crispy critter-ed and burnt! Keeping her gag reflex at bay she hurried away from the mirror to the bath. _Okay note to self: leave the looking at my wounds to Wendy. She's obviously more equipped at handling grotesque sights than I am!_ Shuddering a last time she eased her way into a comfortable position in the bath.

 _Ah…So lovely… I could get used to a bath this nice…_

She stopped that thought dead in its tracks. No way was she staying! Once her wounds were healed she was going home to pick up the pieces of her life and try her hardest to start over. Magick or not she wanted nothing to do with all of this. Sure some of the people here were really nice and Natsu was fun to be around, but that didn't change the fact that they were at war and more than likely expected her to help with that. She wasn't a fighter, far from it! She just hoped they would be as understanding as they seemed to be. If they forced her to learn and help fight, she wasn't sure how she'd be able to handle it…

Finishing up her bath shortly after that she dried off being careful of her wounds, not wanting to pull any dead skin, but also not wanting to look in the mirror again to see if that was what she was doing. Wrapping her towel securely around herself she left the restroom. Wendy was still in the room patiently waiting and talking to a white cat in a cute little pink dress.

"Oh good you're out, Lucy meet Carla my familiar." Wendy motioned to the white cat.

"Hello Carla."

Carla nodded at her in acknowledgment before hopping off the bed.

"Go ahead and lie down so Wendy can check your wounds." She seemed a bit stand off-ish at first but overall didn't give off any real mean vibes so Lucy just nodded and did as she'd asked. Wendy folded the towel down so it still covered her lower half but gave her a clear view of the damage to Lucy's back. She could feel Wendy poking around a few places and testing the skin that was trying to heal.

"Hmm… It looks like it'll be a week… two at most before it's fully healed. That's with my daily treatments of course, left on its own, a wound like this could take months to heal."

"Really? That long? Not that I'm not grateful for the healing but I was hoping to go home sooner than that." Lucy turned her head so she could peak at Wendy while she spoke.

"Sorry Lucy that's the best I can do with something this big."

Lucy sighed and gave the girl a smile. "Well that's okay then, like I said I'm grateful for the healing regardless."

That put a big determined smile on the girls face.

"I better get started then!"

Lucy chuckled and moved her head back so it wouldn't kink up on her while Wendy worked her magick. After a few blissful minutes of Wendy's soothing magickal treatment Lucy was almost asleep again. So when Wendy shook her lightly to let her now she was done, Lucy jumped and made a funny squeaking noise. Wendy giggled before apologizing. Grabbing some fresh bandages from her bag Wendy wrapped them around Lucy, securing them tightly.

"Are the bandages too tight?"

"Nope just fine, than you again Wendy." Lucy said twisting her torso a bit to test her mobility.

"My pleasure, I like being able to help people as best I can. Oh! By the way Mira said she was going to be by later today to bring you more clothes. She just has to finish her shift at the fairy hall first. She works the bar when she isn't needed for fighting."

"Oh, that's kind of her. By the way what's the fairy hall?" Lucy asked.

"Fairy Tail, it's a guild hall. Guilds are like work centers for people with magick. When someone shows up not knowing how to properly use their magick or need help finding work they can join a guild. Most guilds have access to books and scrolls that people can use to help master their powers or advance their skills. There are many around the magical plain and each one runs differently based on their traditions and rules set out by the guild master, but they all function on a fundamentally similar system."

Wendy rolled up her sleeve to reveal a fairy shaped tattoo on her arm.

"All guilds have their own insignia and every member is required to bare the mark as proof of their membership. Most of the people you saw last night were from Fairy Tail. Big brothers Sting, Rouge, and Cobra are the only ones of the dragon demons who aren't with Fairy Tail. The rest of us are."

Lucy looked a bit shocked which worried Wendy for a minute before Lucy said:

"But didn't getting a tattoo hurt?!"

Wendy and Carla just laughed.

"No, because they aren't normal tattoos. They aren't applied with a needle; rather, they are applied through means of magick ink and a stamp. This way if someone quits the guild or gets kicked out the master can simply remove the mark." Carla explained.

"Oh that makes sense I suppose. And you get to choose the color yourself?"

Both nodded and Lucy smiled.

"Then that doesn't sound so horrible."

As they had been talking Lucy had gotten dressed and brushed through her hair. Feeling ready to take on the stressful day she was sure to come, they all left Natsu's room and headed for the dining hall. Wendy continued to tell Lucy about the Fairy Tail guild and Lucy found herself wanting to visit the hall to see if she was exaggerating or not. Some of the things she was telling Lucy just didn't seem plausible! Like how fights constantly broke out, how often they threw parties even in a time of war, the fact they had been founded by a real life fairy! It all sounded preposterously outrageous! It also sounded fun, exciting, and worse of all enticing. She had a feeling if she did go to visit this boisterous hall she'd never want to leave…

Halfway to the dining hall they ran into Gajeel and his familiar. Lucy almost screamed at the sight of him! He looked a lot like the demon he was with blood red eyes, slit pupils, and sadistic looking sneer. He had bits of metal protruding from his flesh all over his face and arms. Badly scarred in places and exuding a menacing aura; he smirked at Lucy's frightened look.

"Giihee, cool it bunny girl I ain't gonna eat ya. Salamander would kill me fer tryin'." He said and she recognized his voice from her first visit to the magic plain. He must have been the one Natsu was talking to in the hall. Calming a bit, she picked up on what he had called her and quirked an eyebrow. Wendy giggled.

"Big brother Gajeel has a habit of giving odd nick names."

"Ah. I'm assuming 'Salamander' is Natsu?" Lucy asked. Gajeel nodded.

"You catch on quick. Hey Brat mind doin' me a favor when yur done with bunny girl?"

"Sure thing!" Wendy's enthusiasm had everyone around her smiling and the girl blushing shortly after.

"Giihee, I'll be in the training rooms with Lily come find me when yur done kay?" Gajeel said motioning to the black cat beside him who, Lucy now noticed, had a small sword strapped to his back. She would have thought it cute except for the seriousness coming from the cat.

"Sure thing, I just need to take her to the dining hall. Is he still in there?"

Gajeel snorted and Lily spoke up.

"He certainly is. He and Sting are currently in the middle of a fight." He had a surprisingly deep voice for such a small cat.

"Fighting over the best meat again?" Carla asked. The two just silently nodded.

The white cat sighed and Gajeel rolled his eyes before heading down the hall.

"Nice meeting ya face to face bunny girl, c'mon Lily."

Lily nodded his head in farewell and followed Gajeel down the hall. Carla turned to Lucy and smiled.

"Congratulations you survived your first encounter with the iron dragon demon."

"Carla that's mean! Big brother Gajeel isn't that bad." Wendy protested. Carla just chuckled to herself and continued to the dining hall. Wendy sighed and Lucy giggled.

Turning the last corner to the dining room they could already hear the fight that was going on in there. Natsu was tossing around insults and Lucy recognized Stings voice spewing self praises. Carla rolled her eyes and Lucy heard her mumble 'Males' under her breath. Opening the doors gave way to a sight Lucy would never forget.

Fire and beams of light were shooting back and forth across the room and fists were clashing with flesh, but the biggest eye catcher was the fact that Natsu and Sting were covered almost head to toe in food! Looking closer she saw all the food except the meat had been used as missiles before it all ran out and they had resorted to fist fighting.

Lucy couldn't help herself, she busted out laughing clutching her stomach and tears forming in her eyes.


	11. Chapter 11

**Authors Note: Sorry this took so long. I had a lot going on and this chapter required a lot of research before I could write it.**

* * *

Natsu's ears picked up the sweetest sound they had ever heard! He had just been about to punch Sting in his ever running mouth when the sound of laughter came from the doorway. Turning to look at the source proved to be a bad idea though, as soon as he did Sting sucker punched him in the gut. That was gonna hurt for a while! Taking a second to catch the wind that got knocked out of him; he found Lucy watching from the entrance to the dining hall.

A sudden strong urge to show off came over him and he grinned evilly at Sting who glared at him warily. Suddenly Sting found himself getting hit with one melee attack after another and soon Natsu was standing atop him in a victory pose. Natsu could practically hear the victory bells ringing around him. Lucy laughed again and walked over to him.

"Hey Luce! You see me being awesome?"

"I see you covered in food and abusing Sting." She gave Sting a little wave, and he returned it still on the floor under Natsu.

"Eh, he'll be fine and I can always wash off easy." He finally stepped off of Sting and went to put an arm around Lucy, but she batted him away.

"Natsu I just took a bath!"

Grinning, he swiped a glob of some sort of sauce from his shoulder and streaked it across her cheek while saying:

"So? You can always take another!"

She let out a funny squeal and socked him in the arm successfully getting more gunk on her hand. She sighed and went to grab a napkin to clean it off. After successfully scrubbing the food off her hand and cheek she turned back to Natsu who was grinning away at her.

"What?" She asked a bit unsettled by the humor in his eyes.

"You missed some on your cheek."

"Where?"

"Here..."

He grabbed the napkin from her and held it up like he was going to wipe it off for her but instead came up with a devilish idea. Cocking his head to the side, with that toothy grin of his, leaned in and licked the remainder of food off her cheek. Lucy's face instantly went red and not even a moment later she delivered a painful 'Lucy Kick' to Natsu's head. All the while shouting:

"Kyaa! What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

"I was cleaning the food off for you!" He responded back rubbing the sore spot on his head. Sting was hanging out with Rouge who had stayed in the corner watching the whole time. They both had shocked looks on their faces, Stings quickly turning to amusement, as Lucy continued her attack on Natsu.

"Was it necessary to lick me!?" She yelled as she started throwing items from the table at Natsu. Dogging them easily he just laughed.

"I don't really see the issue Luce!"

"You don't see the issue!?" She grabbed a tin jug from the table that had held water before the earlier fight and aimed it right for his head. With a loud thud the jug hit him dead center of his face and he yelped at the pain. Lucy smirked triumphant. Sting broke out laughing.

"Nice one Lucy!" He gave her a thumbs up while wiping tears from his eyes with the other hand. Rouge just shook his head at his friend. Lucy smiled at the praise though it didn't last long as an intimidating looking man walked into the room. He took one look around with a disgusted look on his face before he snapped at everyone.

"Seriously!? I can't leave for even an hour and you lot go and wreck the place?!"

"Cool it Laxus it was just a fight we'll clean the mess up." Sting said coolly obviously not caring that a death glare was being shot his way.

"Forget it, we're moving out. Several dark guilds have been seen heading for Twilight Ogres' territory. We're going in for back up. Get ready and tell the others, we'll leave as soon as we're all ready. Sting, END wash the food off yourselves would you?"

With that Laxus left the room in a flash of lightning making Lucy jump slightly. What a way to travel! Then again Natsu's version with fire seemed scarier in a wider perspective she supposed. Natsu sighed and took Lucy's hand, without speaking they walked to the back of the dining hall through a two way swinging door and Lucy found herself in a kitchen.

"Luce, I gotta go so go ahead and make yourself some breakfast. Will you be okay if you're here by yourself for a little while until I can send someone to keep you company?"

"Yeah I'll be fine. It's not like I'm helpless or anything."

He smirked at that.

"Never said you were Luce. Just make sure if you go exploring to stay out of other people's rooms here. It's never wise to enter a dragons dwelling uninvited."

"Alright I'll remember that. Now go get ready and Natsu?"

He had started for the door but stopped and looked back at her.

"Be careful out there. I don't know much about this war but... it's still a war so just be careful okay?"

She hesitantly looks at him blushing slightly. He gives her his best toothy grin.

"Don't worry Luce I'll take 'em all out and be back in time for dinner, promise!" and with that he left to go get ready. Lucy sighs and leans against a counter.

Now she was worrying over a demon? What was happening to her life...? Oh well, best not to dwell on things. Taking a minute to look around she found some food that she could cook and started on it. Being an heiress to a wealthy family she didn't have much cooking experience but she knew enough to make herself a simple breakfast. While she cooked, sounds from everyone gathering to leave rose and fell until all that was left was the sounds of her food simmering in a fry pan.

"Guess I'm on my own now..."

That sunk in a little too deeply and she soon found herself in a weird little funk of confusion. She really was on her own! No father telling her how to live her life, no more tutors or uptight maids telling her how to best live up to her father's expectations of her, and no more pressuring human society telling her to hurry up and marry so she could give some snob an heir. Okay so maybe being on her own wasn't so bad but it was a bit terrifying in a freeing sort of way. She could do whatever she wanted now and that alone was enough to make her want someone's help to figure out what she should do.

Earlier she had been determined to go home and pick up her life from the ashes of what she had left behind, but now that she'd had more time to think about it this realm didn't seem so bad! It had already been explained to her that women had more freedom and rights here. She could dress how she wanted, do what she wanted, and choose her own suitors. The last bit of thought made her blush. Years of reading romance novels had back fired on her and she had dared to dream of a romance that would sweep her away into eternity. So naturally the idea of choosing who that person would be made her go light headed.

The only thing she was still wary on was learning magick. When Natsu got back she would diffidently have to ask him if her learning would mean she'd have to join the war or not. No way would she kill under any circumstances! That was something she would never budge on. Frowning; she wonders if that would mean they'd make her go back to the human realm? What would she do then? How could she go back to the bland, proper life she knew before? Would Natsu still visit with her if she was forced to go back? She'd miss him if he didn't.

Blinking herself back into reality; she finished her breakfast and cleaned up after herself. Once that was done she decided to try and do some cleaning up of the dining room just to pass the time. Sting and Natsu had really done a number on it. It was about a half hour later and she still hadn't made much progress. The dang food just didn't want to come off the walls! She was so busy trying to scrape what looked like dried mashed potatoes off the wall that she didn't notice foot steps behind her as someone entered the hall.

"I'm fairly certain END didn't bring you here to be the cleaning lady."

Lucy jumped and made a squeaking noise at the unexpected voice behind her. Whirling around to face whoever it was; Lucy found a small young lady with blue hair and hazel eyes. Though she was short, Lucy was fairly certain they were similar in age. The bluenette smiled and held out her hand.

"Sorry didn't mean to scare you, I'm Levy, Levy McGarden. I'm here to keep you company."

"Oh, hi. I'm Lucy Heartphilia. Nice to meet you Levy." Lucy smiled and shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you too. So why are you cleaning?"

"Needed something to do. I was gonna explore this place but it's so huge I worried I might get lost."

Levy giggled at that and shook her head.

"It's a fool's errand. This hall gets destroyed so often there's no point."

"From what I saw before I'm not surprised but we can't just leave all this food everywhere. That's disgusting!"

Levy winked and motioned for Lucy to move beside her. "Watch a pro Lu-Chan."

Ignoring her latest nickname; Lucy watched as Levy waved her hand in the air while she intoned:

"Solid Script: Clean!"

The word appeared in physical form in the air above the two girls and went flying around the room. Everything it passed over was suddenly shining like new and in its proper place. Lucy could only gape wide eyed at the scene before her.

"That was amazing Levy!" Levy giggled and did a little curtsy.

"Now that that's done, how about we explore? It's not often people get to be in here when the dragons are gone!"

Laughing and taking each other's hands they ran around the castle exploring every nook and cranny. It was easy being around Levy. She seemed like one of those people that you didn't need to know long to be friends with. It sort of just came naturally and Lucy enjoyed every second of it. She'd even started calling her Levy-chan in the process of it all. They had stopped in a giant library to catch their breath from all the giggling that they had been doing. Levy was currently exploring all the shelves of books pointing out all the ones she had read already.

"Read it, read it, read that one twice..."

"Wow Levy-Chan that's the fifth shelf you've cleared!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Heh heh yeah well when your family has been blessed by the god of language words just seem to come naturally to you." Levy blushed bashfully.

"God of language? Which one?"

"Ogma, he's Irish." Lucy gave her a confused look. "But your name..."

"I know seems Scottish right? I'm actually half and half, but full on Celtic."

"Oh wow..."

"How about you Lu-Chan? I heard you were pretty well off in the human realm, is that true?"

Lucy fidgeted not sure how she should answer. She didn't want to come off as some spoiled brat or anything, but there was no way to explain her circumstances without sounding that way. So instead she settled with:

"I guess…"

"You guess?" Levy questioned.

"Yes we were wealthy. However, 'well off' infers that we were happy as well. I wouldn't agree with that."

The way she said it suggested to Levy that she didn't want to talk about it. So deciding not to be nosy she changed the subject.

"Alright then. Say Lu-Chan rumor has it that you're a Star Child, but you haven't confirmed it. Is that right?"

"Yeah that's what Natsu told me I am. He said something about testing weather he's right or not, but that he's more than fairly certain I am one." She replied simply.

"Well if that's the case you must know what your star is."

Lucy had a brief moment of confusion before Natsu and Makarov's explanations came back to her. Stars are the physical representations of our souls, and for every star there's a soul that's bound to it. So simply knowing what star her soul would return to when she dies is the reason for the craziness of her life. Good to know…

Unfortunately that wasn't something she could loathe. Yes she knew exactly which star was hers, because her mother had been the one to show her. It was one of her best memories with her mother actually.

"Yeah I know which one it is." This made Levy go all doe eyed and curious looking.

"Wow! Do you mind me asking which one it is?" Levy asked.

"Um no not really. Its Alphecca the jewel in the northern crown Coronae Borealis."

"Oh wow that sounds amazing! I don't know much about stars regrettably but that sounds interesting!"

Lucy chuckled. She knew plenty about stars thanks to her mother. Her mother had been enamored with the stars and had constantly explained every constellation in the sky and all the stories behind their individual myths. Lucy memorized them all to heart and could recite each from memory.

"Wanna hear the legend behind the crown?" Lucy offered and giggled as the look on Levy's face looked as if she might burst with joy any moment.

"Yes please!"

Levy made herself comfortable in a chair across from Lucy and tucked her legs underneath herself before motioning for Lucy to start.

"The story starts with a princess named Ariadne, whom the crown belonged to. No one is quite sure who gave her the crown, as the story has been jumbled through the years, but the point is, it was hers. Now Ariadne was in love with a prince named Theseus who she helped escape the labyrinth under Crete after he defeated the Minotaur trapped in there. After wards they sailed away with each other only for Theseus to leave her on the island of Naxos heartbroken. She sat on the island crying and cursing the man for his ungratefulness when along came the God Dionysus. Upon seeing the broken hearted beauty his heart instantly melted for the poor girl and he married her on the spot. After their wedding Dionysus joyfully tossed the crown into the sky where its jewels changed into stars, and there is stays as a monument to their love."

At the end of the story Levy sighed happily.

"That was lovely, at first I thought it was going to end like most Greek and Roman stories do."

"What, with sadness and gore?" Lucy offered and Levy smiled and nodded.

"Yeah exactly!" Levy exclaimed.

"Well there are actually a few others that have happy endings too."

"Do you know them?" Levy asked hopefully. Lucy just laughed and for the next few hours they sat in the library sharing stories from myths they knew.


	12. Chapter 12

E.N.D was not happy. That's right he was so angry he called himself by his true name. Those idiots from Ogre had foolishly charged in on their own causing most of their members to be injured and taken out of commission. This made it difficult for the dragons to plan an attack formation so they were mostly fighting blind after immediately charging in. Normally he would complain about the stupid attack plans and wish to rush right in, but this was too much for them. When they finished this fight he'd definitely try harder to be patient with the planning from now on.

The battle was taking too long, it had already been two hours and less than half of the dark guilds were taken out. If they didn't make any headway soon this would be a lost battle. Taking down another squad of Dark Guild nobodies, E.N.D moved onto the next. Dodging spells and curses of all kinds, he quickly sent out his fire attacks before the enemy had a chance to respond again. His old habits trying to bleed through as the smell of burning flesh entered his nostrils. Shivering and trying to regain his composure he didn't notice the attack coming straight at him from behind. Just as the urge to broil them all alive subsided he was hit. Searing pain shot through his left side, from his shoulder blade down to his lower back.

Letting out a blood curdling growl followed by a roar attack, he let lose his anger and frustration on the dark magick users. He fought until the enemy became nothing more than a blur of magick and fury. He could feel himself slipping. It was all too easy to fall back into that emotionless darkness from which he was born. The tell tale sign was how he no longer fought because he was angry or hurt, but instead fought just to revel in it. He could have gone on like that for the rest of the battle had it not been for the piercing light that blind sided him. Landing in a heap on the ground he looked up to see the man who had tackled him.

As if the sapphire hair and brown eyes weren't recognizable enough the scarlet symbols decorating the right half of his face totally gave away his identity. Jellal Fernandez: Leader of the independent guild Crime Sorciere. His past was almost as horrible as E.N.D's.

"I'll take it from here E.N.D. You cool down for a bit." E.N.D just scowled at him for good measure. Honestly if Jellal hadn't blind sided him, he'd probably have fallen back into his horrible old habits with out a second thought. As much as he hated to admit it (even to himself) he owed him.

It only took a short while after that for the enemy to retreat with less than half their men in tow. Everyone gathered at Ogre's hall to regroup. Despite being the ones to save the day; Jellal and his odd little guild were hanging out in the back away from everyone else. They were the misfits of the magick realm. Each one with a sketchy background. Cobra (or Eric as he went by when his guild was around) was in the middle of discussing something with Jellal.

Ignoring all the butt kissing the Ogre members were doing, Natsu walked over to the brooding bluenette.

"Hey Jellal, thanks for the save back there!"

"E.N.D, no problem. I'm just glad we made it in time. You looked like you were having a rough time of it."

The others in his group snickered thinking Jellal was making a snide remark, but the look Natsu shared with him said he was speaking of his internal struggle with his old nature. Natsu just gave them a scowl and choose to be angry.

"Like hell I was! I could'a taken them all out on my own if I wanted to!"

"Is that so? Then why didn't you?" Sorano the silver haired girl in their guild who used to go by the name Angel in her dark days said snootily.

Natsu was about to snap back at her when Jellal cut him off and stood.

"E.N.D another reason we came to help was so I could get a chance to talk to you."

"Eh? What about?"

Jellal heads outside with out another word, making Natsu sweat drop before following him out. He could feel Cobra's eyes on him the whole way out.

Once outside they headed for the small line of trees away from the guilds entrance. Obviously Jellal didn't want anyone over hearing their conversation. This had to be important then.

"Eric told me about your newest house guest." This caused a growl to creep from Natsu's lips. The snake bastard couldn't keep his trap shut! _And I know you can hear me freak ears!_

"Dont worry the others don't know, and he had a good reason to tell me." Jellal reassured. It didn't calm Natsu down, not until he heard Jellal's next words.

"She's a Star Child, like I was."

"Wait what!? You're a Star Child?!"

Jellal instantly covered Natsu's mouth and looked around to double check they were alone. Only when he was satisfied with his results did he move his hand away. Sighing and running a hand through his locks, Jellal shook his head.

"No I **was** a Star Child. You could say with all the bad stuff I did I fell from grace."

"That's possible?!"

Jellal nods and sits on a near by stump.

"There's a lot more to Star Child Magick that most don't know. I've heard Sabertooth has a Star Child as well. I think it would be very wise if I were to help them with their magick, so they don't make the same mistakes I did."

Natsu mulled this over for a bit. It would be great if Lucy could get help with her magick, on the other hand she was still on the fence about staying to learn in the first place. Maybe if she were to meet others like her that would make her more comfortable with the situation...

"Well... I'll have to talk to Luce about it but I don't see how it would be a problem. As far as the Saber girl is concerned you'll have to ask Sting. He's her guild master after all."

"I planned on it. I'll be by as soon as I know an answer from Sting."

And with that Jellal got up and went back inside. Natsu was no longer in the victory party mood, so he quickly went back inside to find Happy so they could head back. The others would be getting fixed up by Wendy and partying it up over the ridiculous victory so he should have plenty of time to talk to Lucy about Jellal. Man talk about a Shocker! Jellal a Star Child? Natsu never would have guessed. He doesn't give off the same sent or magick that Lucy does. Then again he did say he was no longer one. _Hmm... how does one go about becoming a Fallen Star?_

"Hey Natsu, you okay? You've been awfully quiet this whole time..." Happy asked eventually.

"I'm fine lil' buddy, just thinking is all.."

"NATSU THINKING!? IS THE WORLD COMING TO AN END?!"

"Jeez knock it off Happy! I can think if I want to!"

After arguing for the rest of their trip home they finally agreed that Natsu could think and Happy got fish for dinner. How that worked out Natsu couldn't remember. His little cat could incorporate fish into any conversation. Ignoring the fact he probably got swindled some how Natsu walked into the castle and started looking for Lucy. Judging by the smells he could tell that Levy and even Mira were here. At least she hadn't been alone all this time. Natsu would have felt bad if she had.

Following his nose, Natsu found himself in one of the guest rooms near his. Mira and Levy were sitting on the bed surrounded by clothes and from what he could tell Lucy was in the bathroom changing.

"Oh Hello E.N.D. The battle over already?" Mira asked when she noticed him in the door way.

"Yeah, I came to check on Lucy and give her some news. What are you guys doing in here?"

"Mira brought Lu-Chan some more clothes. We wanted to see how they looked on her but knew you wouldn't like us being in your room." Levy said holding up a few articles of clothing.

"Well if its you two I wouldn't have minded so much I guess. Anyway do you two mind if I talk to Luce alone real quick? Its kind of important."

"Not at all E.N.D, tell Lucy we'll be in the dinning hall okay?" Mira said as her and Levy left the room. Natsu nodded and closed the door behind them.

Natsu waited for Lucy to come out of the bathroom. She was taking so long he almost barged in. She eventually came out and Natsu had to do a double take. She was wearing a short pleated blue skirt, blue and white top, and her hair was tied up in a half side pony tail with a blue ribbon. She was looking down at herself blushing furiously obviously not used to the revealing clothes. Natsu decided to play it cool and go for nonchalance, hopefully making it easier for her and less embarrassing.

"Hey Luce, new clothes?"

"Y-yeah, Mira brought them over for me. I'm just not sure about-"

She finally looked up at him and instantly went pale. Quirking an eyebrow at her he waited for an explanation but when she just stood there wide eyed and shaking he had to inspect what the problem was. Looking down at himself he instantly new what was wrong. He was fresh from battle. That meant wounds, bruises, dirt, and blood. Most of which wasn't his own.

"Crap I forgot...Listen Luce I'm gonna go clean up real quick. Can you wait in my room while I do? There's stuff I need to talk to you about."

When she finally nodded he got up and left the room, he didn't bother looking back to see if she was following. He could hear her behind him, which made him smile. After getting to his room; he grabbed a new set of clothes and locked himself in the bathroom. He cleaned as fast as he could while enjoying the warmth on his aches and pains. It also gave him time to figure out all he was gonna say to Lucy about Jellal's lessons. Hopefully she agreed to the lessons. He wanted her to be able to protect herself. He knew she had a tough as nails personality now she just needed the magick to back it up. Something about her, he just knew she could be someone great.

Finishing up; he used his fire to dry faster and got dressed. As he came out he noticed Lucy by the fire place admiring the figure of his dragon father Igneel. Smiling sadly to himself for a moment he felt a pang in his gut. He missed Igneel... a lot.

"Alright, all clean! Now we can talk." At the sound of his voice Lucy turned to look at him. He looked much better; less like an inhuman slaughter machine.

"Yeah, much better. Actually there is something I wanted to say to you when you got back." Lucy said as she walked over to the bed to sit. Natsu sat beside her and looked curious.

"I've decided what I want to do. I want to stay and learn magick. While Levy and I were talking she managed to convince me it was a good idea."

Lucy sat waiting for Natsu to respond but he just sat there staring at her. Suddenly he jumped her and dragged her into a huge suffocating bear hug. If she wasn't so shocked and currently suffocating she would have blushed furiously.

"That's great Luce! I'm glad you decided that, it means you can stay now!"

He finally let her go and hurried to the other side of the bed. He kneeled down and started digging around under the bed for something.

"Um...Natsu what are you doing?" Lucy asked watching him curiously.

"Now that you've decided to stay there's something I need to give you. I was gonna do this sooner, but Gramps said to wait until you decided."

Once he found what he was looking for he pulled it out and set it on the bed. Lucy let out a gasp and scrambled to the other side of the bed.

"That was my mothers' treasure box! What are you doing with it?"

"Your dad gave it to me before he passed... Like I said I wanted to give it to you sooner but  
Gramps told me not to."

"But why would he say that?" Lucy asked as she clutched the box to her chest protectively. Natsu held his hand out for the box and Lucy reluctantly handed it over. He then activated the runes by trying to open it before handing it back.

"This is magick writing called runes. Freed translated them to say: ' _Only those beloved of the stars may open this box'_ So we all figured you're the only one who can open it, well possibly another Star Child, but either way its meant for you."

Lucy had to take some time to process all this. Did this mean her mother was possibly a Star child too? If she was being honest with herself it did make a lot of sense. Her mother always had this feeling about her, like she gushed light and purity. Lucy just assumed it was her radiant personality.

"Hey Natsu? Have I told you how I found out which star was mine?" She didn't look up as she talked, she just kept staring down at the box re-memorizing all its details.

"Um... No..."

"When I was little and my mother was still in good enough health, she used to take me out into the garden at night to learn the constellations. One night she pointed to the constellation Coronae Borealis and told me: ' _That Star in the middle, Alphecca, that's you Lucy. If you ever feel lost or home sick, look to that star and be at ease.'_ "

Natsu didn't know what to say. He suspected either someone in her family or someone she knew to be a Star Child as well. They usually had the ability to see which stars belonged to who and could then create more like them.

"Does this mean my mother was a Star Child too?" Lucy finally looked up at him as she asked.

"I can't say for sure, but it's possible."

"If so then I'm even more convinced, I want to learn this magick!"


	13. Chapter 13

"So there's really someone who can teach me about my magick?!"

Natsu had just explained about Jellal's offer to teach her. Lucy was glad to know there were others out there like her. He even said there was a girl in Sabertooth, Yukino, who was a Star Child like Lucy. They'd be learning together.

"Yeah, his name is Jellal. He's got some history with my friend Erza, but he's turned into a decent guy recently and is willing to help."

Lucy was so caught up in her thoughts of what she might possibly learn she zoned out and missed Natsu talking to her.

"Hello earth to Lucy!" Natsu had to practically yell to get her attention.

"Jeez what!?" Lucy yelled back.

Natsu rolled his eyes and pointed to the box still in her lap.

"You gonna open it or what?"

"Oh right..."

Curious as to what her parents left for her, she excitedly opened it up. Laying inside are two sets of ornamental keys and a letter with her name written on it. Blinking in surprise; Lucy recognized one set of keys from her childhood. She could have sworn she saw her mother with these keys a number of times.

"Keys? What the heck are those for?" Natsu asked clearly confused.

"I remember these..." Lucy said as she grabbed the letter and began to read out loud.

" _My Dearest Daughter..._

 _If you are reading this it means I didn't live long enough to tell you the truth and for this I am deeply sorry. My darling daughter we come from a long line of people known as Star Children. We act as the bridge between the earth and the heavens. going back centuries Mothers from our family line guided their daughters in the path of the stars and guarded the heavens secrets. Somewhere along the line the tradition ended and was eventually forgotten. I managed to uncover the truth and had planned to continue the tradition with you. As that is no longer a possibility I leave it up to you to decide if you wish to do so. It was bad enough when I had to go through this alone..., I never wanted that for you._

 _Inside this box are the keys to the heavens. With these you can communicate with the Star Guardians, also known as the Celestial Spirits. They can help you down this path, providing knowledge and guidance. If your father was successful in finding more, there should be more keys than just the ones I had. One of the keys should be the Southern Cross, Crux, he's incredibly knowledgeable on all subjects not just Celestial knowledge. He will be of great help to you. Again I am so sorry I can't be there for you, but regardless of what path you choose remember this: I know you will grow to be an absolutely out standing individual. I hope you are happy and healthy my little one._

 _With all my love and affection, Mama_."

Once she was done reading; Lucy put down the letter and scrubbed the tears from her eyes. Natsu waited while she pulled herself together. While he did he stared at the keys. He had no idea they were a part of Star Child magick, he just hoped Jellal knew how to use them.

"This is a lot to take in... but I'm glad I have something left to remember my mother with." Lucy finally said and gathered all the keys together to combine them on a single key ring.

Natsu could relate. He only had one treasured item and he kept it with him at all times.

"Yeah I know how that is..."

Lucy gave him a curious look and he gripped the white scaled scarf he always wore.

"My Dad, well adoptive Dad, gave me this scarf. It's all I have left of him... Well that and my magick, but that's different."

"If...If you don't mind, could you tell me a bit about him?" Lucy hesitantly asked but when she saw the look on Natsu's face she quickly changed her mind.

"Never mind. I know how personal that is."

Natsu just nodded. "Aren't Mira and Levy still waiting for you?"

"Oh that's right! I better go find them."

Natsu told her where they said they'd be waiting and watched her leave. Once the door was shut he stood and walked over to the figurine of Igneel he had.

"Dad..."

A treacherous tear escaped as he remembered the day Igneel had taken him in. He was weak and defenseless as a new born. Igneel knew who he was but still took pity on him. He trained him in the art of Dragon magick and gave him a whole new outlook on life. However the day he learned the truth about his new magick was the day he openly switched sides in the war. He swore to never lose another loved one to the darkness ever again.

He would win this war in the name of his Dad and all he stood for...

x

A few hours later~

Lucy was laughing with a few others. All the Dragons except Sting and Rouge had returned and even some members of Fairy Tail had shown up. Lucy had been introduced to so many more people but she was enjoying each one of their companies. Even when a certain ravenette, introduced to her as Gray Fullbuster, stripped of all his clothes and walked around naked, or when he and Natsu got into fights with each other causing the pretty red head, Erza Scarlet, to intervene and pummel the two of them. She may be a beauty but she could be incredibly scary when she wanted to.

Through the night she had also noticed a certain Iron Dragon Demon hovering around her fellow book worm Levy. _Hmm... I'll have to look into that later._

"So Lucy... You decided if you're gonna join our guild yet?" Gray asked once again shirtless and draping an arm around her shoulders. Instantly she felt a death glare being shot at her from the corner where Grays biggest fan, Juvia, was seated.

Choosing to be oblivious to the seething Bluenette, Lucy shook her head no.

"I think I should at least know some magick before I even think about joining a guild. So I'm going to train a bit first."

Erza nodded in approval. "That is extremely wise of you Lucy. Even should you decide not to join in the war, there are some who see a guild mark as a symbol of power. They would challenge you despite any experience you have."

Lucy gulped and stuttered: "R-Really!?"

"Yeah, fights break out between guilds all the time! Everyone wants to get better and test their skills. What better way than a fight with someone you know is gonna be strong?" Natsu answered before tackling Gray again.

This time they both tumbled into Gajeel, causing the man to join the fight after a few choice curses. Everyone laughed and waited for the fight to get so out of control that Erza was needed to stop it. That point didn't happen though, as Sting and Rouge came in with a silver haired girl following close behind them. Everyone stopped what they were doing immediately.

"Everyone, this is Yukino, Sabertooths' Star Child. Be nice to her or I'll have to kick your asses!" Sting (sort of) introduced her. Yukino blushed and bowed to everyone.

"Hello everyone, it's a pleasure to meet you all." Though she was very soft spoken, Lucy could tell this girl was no shy individual. That was especially true when she and Yukino locked eyes. The sheer determination in her eyes made Lucy feel a bit insecure for a brief moment. It didn't last long though, as Erza nudged her then and motioned to Yukino. So with a slightly shaky resolve she got up and walked over to the girl.

"Hi, I'm Lucy. I'm a Star Child as well." Offering her hand, Yukino shook Lucy's hand and gave her a sweet smile melting any worries Lucy had about Yukino before.

"It's wonderful to meet another like me. I hope we can get along Lucy-sama."

"Likewise Yukino!"

Needless to say they hit it off immediately. The two girls as well as the rest of the women in the room huddled together and talked enthusiastically while the men argued and brawled. Every now and then Natsu would feel eyes on him and he'd look over to see Lucy smiling at him. He'd smile back and feel fired up for another brawl. By the end of the night most everyone had left and Yukino had been given a room close to Sting.

Sting had said that since he was her guild master it was his duty to make sure she stayed safe, and that meant giving her a room near his. Natsu saw through that facade easily but kept his thoughts to himself. After all he had done basically the same with Lucy , so who was he to judge?

Lucy had gone back to the room to bath before bed. So Natsu was just hanging out in the dinning hall long enough for her to get done. She was so adamant that he stay out of the room until she was done she practically 'Lucy Kicked' him back out of the room. He just didn't get it...

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Cobra leaving the hall. _Hey didn't I want to ask freak ears something before...?_

"Stop calling me freak ears!" Cobra yelled as he spun to face Natsu who just grinned.

"Heheh sorry man!"

"Hmph. No you're not... Whatever Jellal should be by in a couple days. He just needs to work out what the others in my guild are going to be doing while he's gone."

That's what he wanted to ask! "Thanks Freak Ears!"

"Quit calling me that!" And with that he stormed out.

Natsu just chuckled. So Lucy was going to get proper training in her magick... Things are starting to get interesting.

"E.N.D- sama?" Natsu looked behind him to see Yukino standing there.

"Hmm..?"

x

Lucy sighs as she relaxes in her bath. The ointments Natsu said she could use smelled amazing! Although for the life of her she couldn't decipher what the labels said they were. Maybe she should ask Levy to teach her this realms writing. It would probably come in handy if she was going to be staying here.

There was a knock on the door and Lucy was about to yell at Natsu for coming back too soon when she heard the persons voice.

"Lucy- sama? It's Yukino... May I come in? I'm sorry to disturb you."

"Yukino?! Um sure but uh, I don't think Natsu will like you in his room with out permission."

Yukino walked in as Lucy was getting out and covering herself with a towel.

"Dont worry I asked E.N.D-sama before I came here. I know that Dragons tend to be protective of their homes."

"Oh... well that's good. So uh what did you want to see me for?" Lucy asked while drying off.

Yukino was quiet for a moment, more than likely composing her thoughts before she spoke.

"You weren't born in this realm, so you have no knowledge about the goings on in this world correct?"

"Well not really... but I'm doing my best to learn. I've only been here about a week, so I haven't had much chance to catch up on things." _Why am I getting the feeling this conversation isn't heading in a good direction?_

Yukino hesitated not sure how to continue the conversation, which was fine for Lucy. It gave her time to get dressed and brush out her hair.

"I heard from Sting-sama... You had an encounter with an Etherious. Is that true?"

Lucy winced at the memory, subconsciously moving her hand to the wound that had healed on the back of her head.

"Y-yeah... I think he was called Jackal ."

Yukino nods and gives her a sympathetic look. "The Etherious are our biggest enemies in the war right now. They are impossibly strong considering what they are."

Lucy gave her a blank look and Yukino explained:

"The Etherious are created demons. They weren't born. They were made with incredibly powerful black magick. Some how that made them stronger than real demons."

Shocked Lucy spoke her thoughts out loud: "But who would create something like that...?"

"He was the evilest man to set foot in this realm. In ancient times people in the human realm revered him as a god of death and destruction. No one knows if he really was a god or not but the truth of it was that he was a man who understood black magick too well."

Lucy couldn't believe what she was hearing. A single individual was able to create intelligent beings of such great power they could easily over come an actual demon!

"His name was Zeref, and he did more than just create the Etherious. He built magick structures and tools that spelled doom for anyone not in control of them. He came up with new forms of death magick and he taught really horrible people how to wield them. When the magick realm was cut off from the human realm he created the portals that allow us to pass between the two. That's actually what the war is about. Who gets to posses the portals, and what will they do with them. The Etherious want them so they can invade the human realm and take over. We just want them so we can stop them."

"Um...Yukino not that I'm not interested, but what was the point in giving me a history lesson?"

Yukino looked uncertain about what to say again. There was a clear conflict in her eyes and it made Lucy uneasy.

"I don't want to come across as hateful or wanting to cause trouble, because that's not it at all. I just think you deserve to know all the facts before you completely jump into this world. Unfortunately that involves me telling you some bad things about someone you've grown close to."

"I can understand that. Look what ever you plan on telling me, I promise I wont be angry with you for telling me okay?" Lucy smiled to emphasize her point. Yukino just frowned more.

"You see... its about E.N.D-sama. He is an Etherious as well. The former leader of the Etherious actually..."

"Wait what!?" Well this took Lucy by surprise! Sure she knew Natsu had a dark past, he sort of explained it to her before, but this was completely different than what she had previously thought. Now that she knew more about this world and its war his past sounded so much worse!

"The last Etherious that was made was also the strongest and cruelest. E.N.D-sama gathered the others and started this war. It was his plan originally to invade the human realm."

"I just cant picture him like that..."

"Me as well." Lucy gave her another confused look.

"As I said I'm not trying to be hateful. In all honesty I'm quite thankful to E.N.D-sama. He's the reason I'm a member of Sabertooth. They had kicked me out before when it was run by a different master, but E.N.D-sama fought on my behalf afterwards and changed their minds. I'm sure he doesn't remember this but I'm still grateful."

"So why did you tell me this?"

"So no one can use your ignorance against the two of you."

Lucy just blinked at her. She had no way to respond to that. Yukino just smiled and bowed.

"I just wanted you to know the truth from someone who wouldn't exaggerate because of resentment."

Lucy barely got out a shaky thank you to the girl before she was out of the room. Lucy was left alone to process all this. She didn't have long as Natsu came in shortly after. She was glad to see that this new information didn't make her see him any differently. That either said a lot about her foolishness or her good natured personality. She was about to ask him if he was coming to bed or not when he froze and sniffed the air. Lucy couldn't be sure but she swore she heard him growl. Next thing she knew he was glaring at her with dangerous looking eyes. She gulped a bit and he turned around quickly heading for the door.

"N-Natsu?!" Lucy quickly got up and grabbed his arm. "Are you okay?"

"Should've gotten rid of that damn stuff..." She thought she heard him say but didn't have time to process it as he immediately jumped her then. Letting out a startled shriek; they both landed in a heap on the floor with Natsu pinning her down and blushing fiercely.


	14. Chapter 14

**I am so sorry for the delay in my story! Half way through writing it my laptop decided to crap out on me! It was a while before I could find something to type it up with again, and then I had to start all over again cause I lost the original version. I will try my hardest to get the next few chapters up as soon as possible to make up for this I swear!**

* * *

Natsu was kicking himself. He knew he should have gotten rid of that damn bottle of ointment when he had the chance. Now because of it, he may have ruined his and Lucy's friendship. Or what little of it there was. Now he found himself in the training room putting his body through hell trying to erase the damn memories. That was easier said than done...

One hour earlier...

Natsu had been walking back to his room to check on Lucy, thinking he gave her and Yukino plenty of time to talk. As he walked into the room he noticed Lucy sitting on the bed looking kinda down. He was about to ask her what was wrong when it hit him. The scent of Dragons Blood Root. A low growl escaped his throat. Lucy must have used the bath ointment that had been laced with the one herb, Dragons and Dragon demons alike, could not resist the smell of! He had to get away now! He could already feel the haze coming over his mind. Unfortunately Lucy had gotten up and grabbed his arm halting his retreat.

This wasn't good at all. With her this close he could smell it more strongly, and what was worse, it was blending together with her natural scent making every instinct he had go haywire.

"Should've gotten rid of that stuff…"

All self control vanished at that moment, as he grabbed her and pinned her to the nearest wall. Startled she let out a little yelp, which he eagerly quieted with his mouth. Exploring every inch of her mouth; he reveled in her taste. With all his senses flooded with the beautiful woman in front of him, he felt the purest of animal instincts take over him. All thoughts escaped him as he let his body take over, much like when he's in battle. His instincts never failed him then so it was safe to assume they'd do the same here.

She tried at first to push him off her, but it was useless. To him all he could comprehend was her hands on his body, and the thought made him growl in pleasure. Grabbing her hands and using one of his own to pin them above her head; he then used his other hand to tilt her head up and to the side so he had better access to her neck. Another growl escaped him when trailing his tongue down her skin to her pulse made her shiver and whimper a bit. Wanting to hear more sounds from her, he started biting and sucking on her neck (none to gently at that) searching for and sensitive spots that might give him what he wanted. He found a good spot at the curve of her neck to her shoulder. The cry that escaped her was purely sensual and it drove Natsu crazy hearing it. He proceeded to give that spot extra attention until he had her moaning and short of breath.

He smirked to himself satisfied with his work and decided to move on. Gripping the top of her nightgown, he easily ripped it open so that the creamy skin of her breasts were exposed. This caused her to squirm and try to break free of his hold but his grip was too strong. With his free hand he grabbed her left breast and ran his thumb over it, caressing it gently. He watched in fascination as her nipple slowly raised and hardened. With a quick lick of his lips before hand, he latched his mouth onto her. He was pleased to hear her moan, and even more so when she thrust her chest towards him, clearly urging him to do more. So with the release of her hands, he replaced them with her right breast, giving it as much attention as the one still in his mouth. Her hands instantly shot to his hair, gripping fist-fulls and pushing him closer to her.

After a final tug on her nipple with his teeth, he switched sides and repeated his previous actions. The pants and moans coming from Lucy were like music to his ears. As he worked on her breast with his mouth he let his hands wonder the rest of her body. Traveling down, he gripped her hips and growled. The tightening in his pants telling him it was time to stop messing around. Releasing her breast he resumed exploring her mouth, while also pulling at the bottom of her gown to get it over her hips. Getting himself in between her legs was proving difficult however as she kept her legs tightly together. Teasing him right now wasn't very smart of her, he was done with the innocent crap. Lucy pulled her lips away from his, but he didn't really mind. He just went back to her neck instead. She tried to push him away again and he growled in warning at her. He was in no frame of mind to be playing games anymore. She ignored him however and started smacking him instead. Growing annoyed, he pinned her arms again. Once he had a good grip on her wrists her proceeded to rip the rest of her nightgown, tired of working around it. Just as he was about to remove the last of her concealing clothing, large hands grabbed him from behind and tossed him out of the room. As he was standing to charge back into the room, arms coated in iron scales pinned him to the body they belonged to, keeping him from going anywhere. Not that he did still try. He thrashed about trying to get lose but the arms refused to let him go.

Looking back into the room, he saw Lily in his enlarged "battle form" standing in front of Lucy protectively. He was probably the one who tossed him out of the room. _Big mistake Kitty…_ Just then he caught a glimpse of Lucy's face and he froze. Her face was tear stained and puffy, she was gripping her ruined night gown in a desperate attempt to keep herself covered, and worse of all… the look of pure horror in her eyes. The haze that had clouded his mind from the Dragons Blood Root shattered instantly and he felt as it he'd just been stabbed in the gut. What in the hell had he been about to do to her!?

He was then dragged away from the room, and he made no attempt to struggle against the person still holding him he was too disgusted with himself at that moment to do much. He wasn't let go until they were outside the castle on the complete opposite side of the building from his room. He was then tossed on the ground and being glared at by a pissed off looking Gajeel. It was a moment before he realized Gajeel was short of breath, he figured he must have been holding his breath the h\whole time to keep from being influenced by the roots scent. Smart guy…

Once he managed to catch his breath Gajeel finally spoke and drove the knife in Natsu's gut even deeper.

"Ya done fucked up Salamander."

"Understatement of the century metal head…"

Natsu picked himself up and ran a shaky hand through his hair. He needed to apologize to Lucy and explain what happened, but it'd have to wait until morning. Hopefully by then the scent of the root will have faded enough to have no effect. Frustrated that he couldn't do any thing sooner, Natsu turned to Gajeel and sucker punched him in the face. The unsuspecting man stumbled back a bit before righting himself.

"The hell Salamander!?" Gajeel bellowed before striking back.

They continued to fight for a while, Gajeel eventually catching on to what it was Natsu was doing. Natsu wasn't good with complicated emotions like guilt or self loathing, however, what he was good at was blowing off steam with a good fight. So Gajeel obliged. Once Natsu was bruised and beaten he finally stopped and leaned against the building to catch his breath.

"Lily will have explained some of what happened tonight. I'm sure Bunny Girl will understand and forgive you…eventually." And with that Gajeel walked off back inside.

Still feeling like he needed to work off his frustrations Natsu decided to head to the training room and work his body to the point of exhaustion so his mind wouldn't have time to think. Yet here he was, hours later physically exhausted and reliving the entire experience all over again!

"Ugh…! This is getting me no where!"

"Then how about a fight to take your mind off things? The ponies detected dark guild movement near the border."

Turning to find who was talking to him, Natsu found Cobra in the doorway sneering at him. A battle with some dark guild goons sounded perfect!

"We're moving out soon so get yourself ready."

"Alright a good brawl with some baddies sounds great! I'm all fired up now!"

Cobra just rolled his eyes (or eye seeing as the other was sort of sealed shut from an old wound) and left. Thinking about it, those guys in Blue Pegasus may be a bunch of weirdos but Hibikis' Archive magick sure came in handy. All he had to do was focus his magick a certain way and he could find out anything! If he poured enough magick into the Archive he could have infinite knowledge of _everything_! It's annoying that he wastes that ability on ways to pick up and please women.

Shaking pointless thoughts from his mind and slapping his cheeks to focus Natsu got his butt in gear. First things first: kick some Dark Guild ass then come back and apologize to Lucy. If he could make it through the fight he could face her as well.

X

It was morning already and Lucy had barely slept at all. She was still a bit in shock over what had happened with Natsu. She still wanted to know more about the stuff Yukino had told her before hand, in fact she had been planning on asking him about that when he came into the room last night, but then he started acting strangely. If what Lily (Who was randomly huge at that point) had told her was true then the bath oil she had used before was to blame. It was made of highly concentrated Dragons Blood Root which had similar effects on Dragon Demons as catnip did on cats. So that meant some mellowed from it, some got hyper, and some… Lucy blushed. _So that's how he reacts to it huh? Kya! I cant be thinking things like that!_

Shaking her head furiously to rid herself of the thoughts, she sat up annoyed with laying around thinking so much. She dressed quickly, remembering to grab her keys, and left the room in search of her pink haired friend. As she was walking she noticed how quiet the castle was. Normally it wouldn't seem that unusual but she'd come to learn that dragons had amazing lungs and could be heard for miles around. So for this place to be this quiet meant one thing. Making it to the dinning hall proved it. Yukino, Wendy, and Carla were sitting alone in the hall, chatting with one another.

"Oh Miss Lucy! Good morning, did you sleep well?" Wendy asked, noticing her first.

"Morning guys, and not really. Probably too many nerves for today." Yukino nodded at this.

"I had the same problem. I was too excited to start training I barely slept!"

Seeing Yukino's enthusiasm, she found herself excited as well. She couldn't wait to be closer to her mother by learning the same Magick she had used. If only she could get the incident from last night out of her head. Speaking of which…

"Hey Wendy? Are the others out fighting again?"

"Yes, there was a call from the Blue Pegasus Guild late last night. I stayed behind to help with your guys' training. Well that and someone had to let Jellal past the barrier."

Lucy was just about to ask what she meant by barrier when the young girl tilted her head to the side as if she were listening to someone whispering to her.

"Speaking of Jellal; He's here!"

Hopping up from her seat she hurried to the entrance, Lucy, Yukino, and Carla following behind her. Reaching the humongous front door, Lucy realized that the entire time she's been here, She'd never seen what the outside looked like! Everyone kept saying they were in a different realm, so did that mean it looked different as well? Regardless, she was about to find out. Wendy opened the doors (amazing considering she was so tiny compared to them) and stepped out. Lucy had to squint her eyes at the brightness of everything. The world around her seemed to glow with and unearthly light. It took her a moment to realize it was all the Magick in the air! This realm literally was over flowing with Magick, so much so it made everything seem… more alive. The forest surrounding them was blooming with life, the animals passing by healthier looking than ones she'd seen back home, She'd noticed a difference in the air quality a while ago, however, being outside just amplified that difference. Lucy was so preoccupied with taking everything in that she almost failed to notice the hooded figure a few yards away from them under the tree line.

He didn't make an attempt to move from his spot until Wendy held up her hand and a circle of glowing light appeared in the air. The scenery shifted and warped for a minute before settling once again. The man finally moved and headed for them. Wendy smiles at him as he approaches and gives a little wave.

"It's good to see you again Jellal-san."

Said man finally removes his hood to reveal a head of shaggy sapphire blue hair and a red tattoo adorning his right side of his face. He was classically handsome with a noble looking face, however, his eyes (which were a light shade of brown) clearly showed the weight of his troubles. Lucy couldn't explain why but his whole persona just seemed… sad to her.

"Wendy, you're looking well. I'm glad we're seeing each other under good circumstances for once. So I assume this is Yukino and Lucy. It's a pleasure to meet both of you, my name is Jellal Fernandes I guess I'll be teaching you both about your Magick." He smiled at the two girls, but Lucy noticed it didn't really reach his eyes.

"Not that I'm trying to be rude or anything but, I'd like for us to get started as soon as possible. I have a lot to teach you both and a short amount of time to do so."

Both girls nodded in understanding. They had been informed on the type of guild he ran. Constantly being in charge of former enemies and trying to keep them from reverting much be tiresome. So with everyone in agreement they headed inside to the training room. Along the way Wendy and Jellal reminisced with each other over past happenings. Apparently there has been constant confusion over his identity over the years. The list of names was interesting: Seigrain, Mystogan, and Sieg Hart. Lucy was so getting the story behind that later. It sounded full of craziness.

Once in the training room, Jellal got right to business.

"Alright before we begin I need to know where both of you are at with everything. What knowledge on our Magick you have and how much you can use."

Lucy looked to Yukino hoping she'd go first so she didn't have to. Luckily she did.

"Unlike most others in the Magick realm, we a re more connected to our true souls. This gives us unique powers they are unable to mimic. So far I can only produce my Magick as an aura around myself. I've been unable to go farther than that due to my lack of knowledge on how to progress."

Jellal nods and looks to Lucy for her answer. She sighs.

"Well I just learned about all this a few days ago, but What Yukino said I was informed on. Also I found out that my mother was apparently a Star Child as well. She left me these, though I'm not sure what to do with them." She says as she holds up her collection of keys.

Jellal gave her a shocked expression. "How on earth was she able to find all those?!"

Lucy shrugs. "I remember from my childhood her having these ones. I suppose when she passed she had asked my father to find the others for me. He was a firm believer that money could solve the impossible."

"Those are gate keys, they are used to summon the Celestial Spirits, Guardians of the stars. We work along side them to keep the sacred bond between the physical body and the soul safe. They may represent the 88 heavenly bodies but they aren't actually connected to the stars like we are. They are spirits who gave up their stars in order to protect the others. However, just as we Star Children are rare and hard to find, so are the keys."

"So basically it should have been impossible for me to have this many?" Lucy asks trying to make sense of all this new information.

"Not just that, but you also have ten out of the twelve gold keys. As those represent the zodiac signs they are the most rare."

Lucy blinks at him not really believing that an ignorant newbie like her could really have such good luck obtaining such hard to find objects… _Then again everyone back home did used to call me Lucky Lucy…_

Jellal looked to Yukino. "Do you have any keys?"

She shakes her head no and he digs in his pocket for something before handing them to her.

"Now you do, these were mine, but they stopped responding to my call years ago. I've no need for them anymore."

The keys he handed her were two gold, a few silver, and an odd gold one covered by a decorative black snake.

"Oh I couldn't possibly-" Yukino started but was cut off by Jellal.

"As I said, I cant use them anymore and every Star Child needs at least one Celestial Spirit on their side. So these will be yours from now on. But first you both need to form contracts with your spirits."

"How do we do that?" Lucy asked. Jellal just smiled.

"That is your first lesson girls: Making and keeping a Celestial Contract."


	15. Chapter 15

From the moment the Dragon Demons arrived on the battle field they could tell; this fight was gonna take a few days. Natsu couldn't keep track of all the dark guilds attacking.

"Looks like the Ethereous have been 'Recruting' again…" Sting said sinically.

"Well with Oracion working with Jellal now, and Grimoire Heart out of the picture there isnt anyone to over see the minor guilds anymore. They're free for the picking." Rouge commented.

All Natsu cared about was the fact that there were plenty of bad guys to keep him ocupied. This was exactly what he needed after what happened the night before…

"Alright guys, Saber, Fairy Tail, And Pegasus are all out on the field already. Lets split up between them and give support where we can. Sting, you and Rouge go with your guild. Gajeel and E.N.D, help out our guild. Cobra and I'll help the damn ponies." Laxus said taking the lead as usual.

They all nodded and took off to help their comrades. Natsu and Gajeel had Happy and Lily fly them over the enemy. Not only to get to their friends quicker but it also gave a clear veiw of the battle fields layout.

"Looks like they plan on hitting us from two sides. I take one side you get the other?" Gajeel asked.

"Ha! You got it Metal Head, bet I can take out my side before you!" Natsu boasted back.

"You're on Salamander!"

"I'm all fired up now!"

X

Hours later….

The enemy had fallen back and Fairy Tail had a temporary reprieve from fighting. Natsu was currently snacking on some random fire that was burning a near by bush. He wondered how Lucy was doing. _Jellal should be there by now…_ He worried that the incident between him and her the night before had caused her to lock herself away in his room. He like to think, however, that she was tough enough to put it behind her and get what needs to be done taken care of. _Yeah, that's more like her. Luce is tough as nails…_

All he knew for certain, he wanted this battle to be over with as soon as possible so he could get back and properly appaulogies to Lucy. Then he wanted to watch (possibly help with) her training. After all it had been centuries since he'd seen Star Child Magick. Not since her…

"Oi Salamander! You sit there thinking much longer and your brain might explode from the mental workout." Gajeel snickered.

"He's right Flame Brain. We need you for fighting, not vegatablized." Gray commented.

"What'd you bastards say!? If your both raring to go I can take ya both!"

All three men were just about to start their brawl when a certain red head interfieard.

"WILL YOU IDIOTS KNOCK IT OFF!"

Erza's presence caused Natsu and Gray to cower together in an akward hug. Gajeel feined being unaffected, but the sweat pouring down his face spoke volumes of his nervousness around the armored woman.

"We are in the middle of a real battle. We are lucky enough to have a chance to rest and regroup, it does not need to be wasted on your idiotic rivalries!"

"A-Aye…" Natsu and Gray stuttered together mimicing Happy.

With a huff of annoyance Erza walked off. Natsu and Gray let go of each other and sighed.

"Man…She certainly lives up to her Viking heritage." Gray said, rubbing the back of his head in wonder.

"That's a Valkerie for ya…" Gajeel mumbled.

"Well part Valkerie anyway." Gray said.

"Part is enough, that lady is a beast." Natsu shuddered as he said it. The other two men agreed.

With their commentary of the formidable woman over with they followed after her to particapate in the planning of the next attack. However, it didn't last long. Thirty minutes into the planning all hell broke lose, and it all started with a simple green glow. Natsu noticed it out of the coner of his eye. One of the members was glowing and making a pained expression, then another, and another. Soon the whole camp was surrounded by green light and everyone was in pain. Natsu could barely breath, the motion of moving his chest sending spasms of agonizing pain through his whole body. Then there was the problem with his magic, being a fire user he was usually used to feeling warm, but now it felt as if he were going to die burning from the inside out!

There was only one being he knew who could turn his fire against him and cause so much agony like this…

"Kyoka…"

"Its wonderful to be in your presence once again Master E.N.D. How I wish it were under better circumstances."

Following the sound of her voice he found her on a cliff above the camp. With her that close theres no way he would have missed her presence.

 _Tch…Damn lady must have used her curse to dull my sence of smell and hearing…I'm so gonna kick her ass for that._

Unfortunatly someone beat him to the punch. Erza, ignoring the pain racking her body, charged Kyoka. Hounestly, Natsu wasn't surprised Erza could withstand the pain. He remebered some years back, Erza had been captured by the Etherious and taken to their guild Tartaros. Kyoka had tortured her to such a degree that had it been anybody else they'd have gone mad from it. _After all they don't call her Goddess of the Slave Planet for nothing…_

Even though her focus was currently on Erza; Kyoka's curse was still effecting the whole guild which wasn't good for a number of reasons. If any of the dark guild underlings came to back her up, Fairy Tails members would be basically helpless to them. Kyoka's curse could enhance or dull all the sences. She could make it to where even the lightest tap on someones shoulder left them feeling as if their entire arm were being put through a meat grinder.

The only question now was how to distract her long enough to break her curse on everyone. Clearly a one on one fight wasn't going to work…Natsu grinned evily as a devilish plan popped in his head. Ignoring the pain in his body, Natsu forced himself to move. Grabbing some cast away branches from a destroyed tree he used his scarf to tie them to his head. In doing so he made his head look like Kyokas helmet and hair poking out.

"Oi Kyoka! Look at me!"

Kyoka and Erza stopped fighting long enough to both look at him. With one hand on his hip and the other made to look claw like; Natsu began to mimic Kyoka.

"Oh look at me I'm a big bad demoness, I make people hurt a lot, and I constantly have a weggie from the ridiculous outfit I wear!"

Erza did her best to hold in a laugh as Kyoka's face (what little could be seen behind her helmet) turned bright red.

"Just because you were once my master does not mean I'll allow you to live after that!" Kyoka yelled.

Natsu smirked as he mimiced her voice and swished his hips back and forth.

"Just because you were once my master does not mean I'll allow you to live after that…"

In a fit of blind rage Kyoka attacked him, he easily dodged. He and Erza then continued the fight with her. He did notice, however, that her curse had weakened some as the others were moving around easier. So he and Erza continued to tag team her, Natsu pissing her off and Erza fighting her for real. Everyone else got as far away as possible so as not to be effected by Kyoka's curse again. Soon as they were far enough away, Natsu stopped his ruse and began to fight properly. Kyoka is a formidable apponant. Every second her curse causes her to grow stronger and stronger with out limit, so one had to defeat her quickly in order to ensure they lived through the fight.

While Erza and Natsu took care of Kyoka, Gajeel lead the rest of Fairy Tail to the direction the dark guilds had fallen back to. He wasn't the greatest stratagist or tactition but he did know how to lead people in a rampage. Back in the day Gajeel used to be part of a less than friendly guild that was always playing both sides of the war called Phantom Lord. Being the strongest member he'd often be charged with spear heading an attack, similarly to now. The difference, however, back then he wouldn't have hesitated to let the others fend for themselves. If his guild mates died he didn't care. It was there own faults for being too weak. Now, though, he couldn't even think of letting anyone of these idiots following him die.

Peaking to the side he caught sight of Levy being flanked by the two idiots she always had around her Jet (his family had been gifted with inhuman speed by the God Hermes) and Droy (apparently his mother was a Nymph?). That little Shrimp probably had the most to do with his change in personality. First time he'd ever met her he was on the wrong side of the war and ended up hurting her so badly he heard she'd been in critical condition for a week… He still feels the self loathing and rage when ever he thinks back on that-

Gajeels thoughts were cut short as he caught the scent of the enemy. Not only were they closing in but from what he could smell, the dark guild goons knew they were coming.

"Guys heads up!" He yelled as blasts of Magick came from over head.

Freed was quick to form an enchantment to fend off most of the attacks. What he couldn't block the other members dodged. Gajeel was currently covering Levy with his body. He'd turned his skin to iron and was less than effected by the measly blasts hitting him. Once the onslaught of attacks ended the dark guild goons charged them. Gajeel released Levy and ran head first into the attack.

Taking out as many as he could Gajeel couldn't help but feel uneasy. Something wasn't right. They were attacking with half as much force as before and they seemed too cocky to him. With a shout to Lily, he had the large cat fly up and see if anything was off.

"Reinforcments are coming in from the south! We'll easily be outnumbered!"

"Crap!"

Gajeel had to think of something. If Salamander and Erza were here he wouldn't be so worried. The three of them could kick some serious ass, but by himself it'd be difficult to come out of the fight with everyone else being okay as well. He couldn't call Saber or Pegasus to help, they'd be too busy with their own fights to help. Crap crap crap!

Just as the reinforcments arrived, however, the entire area surrounding the enemy was suddenly surrounded by a gravity field forcing them all down. Gravity magick…? That could only mean one guild was here to help. Turning around Gajeel saw nothing but women surrounding their group. The ladies of Mermaid Heel had shown up to help.


	16. Chapter 16

Kagura used her gravity magick to fling the enemy around a few times before dropping the spell and allowing her guild to properly join the fight. Gajeel had to admit, those ladies knew how to throw down. Kagura walked over to him, her constant serious expression intensified for the fight.

"Isn't Erza here with you?" She asked getting straight to the point.

"She's busy fighting off that harpy from Tartaros." Gajeel explained.

"Hey!" Came a furious shout from somewhere in the crowd.

"I meant it as a describing term not an insult!" Gajeel yelled back.

"She's fighting Kyoka by herself?!" Kagura interrupted.

"Nah, Salamander is with her."

"E.N.D?! How is that any better than fighting alone?" Millianna a Bakeneko from Mermaid Heel spoke up. Gajeel was vaguely aware that she and Erza were childhood friends.

"Look we ain't got time ta argue whether Salamander is trust worthy or not!" Gajeel yelled as he took out two enemies that tried to gang up on him from behind.

That seemed to make sense to Kagura and Millianna as they stopped talking and got to work fighting. With her sheathed sword in hand Kagura took off at lightning speed taking out one enemy after another. With Mermaid Heel there, the tide of the battle turned and it seemed in no time at all that they were finishing off the last of the dark guilds. Eventually the remaining people surrendered and were restrained.

After making sure no one on their side were seriously injured Gajeel and Kagura gathered a few people to discuss their next plan of action. After all Sabertooth and Blue Pegasus were still fighting. Kagura was still adamant about helping out Erza, but Levy was able to convince her that Erza and E.N.D were the only ones who knew how to fight past Kyokas' curse. They'd just get in the way if they attempted to help. Kagura backed down and agreed.

They also agreed Sabertooth would be extremely butt hurt if they tried to help so they decided to meet up with Blue Pegasus instead. Gajeel was sure Laxus and Cobra were tired of dealing with them anyway. That guild had a real problem with being annoyingly flamboyant. After giving everyone enough time to recoup and eat a little they headed over to help…

X

Natsu was in genuine agony right now. Kyoka was pushing his limits with her curse. Had he been fighting alone he'd probably have passed out by now, but he'd be damned (more so than a demon would be) if he was leaving Erza to fight this demoness alone. Unfortunately Erza wasn't fairing any better, the pain was obviously slowing her down and weakening her attacks. If they couldn't figure out a way to turn the fight around, Natsu and Erza weren't going to make it…

Suddenly, as Natsu was mid-swing of a punch, Kyoka jumped back out of the way and out of reach. She gave a malicious grin and Natsu was just starting to wonder what was going on when his body began to move with out his control. He felt himself moving towards Erza, a flaming fist raised and aimed at his friend.

"Erza watch out!" He warned.

She barely managed to dodge his fist, a few of her hairs getting singed in the process. Retreating back a few paces, Erza took a defensive pose towards both him and Kyoka. Trying his hardest to regain control of his body, Natsu soon realized who could be behind this.

"Alright Seilah Quit hiding!" he yelled.

"No need to shout E.N.D- sama, its unbecoming of a demon lord." Seilah said as she appeared next to Kyoka.

"Release your damn Macro so I can kick your ass properly!"

Seilah's response was to have him attack Erza again. This time he was fighting with full force. It was actually a good thing for once that Erza was faster than him other wise she might have been in bigger trouble. It wasn't long before that evil smirk left Kyokas face.

"This is growing dull… Seilah my dear? How about we make things more interesting?"

"Interesting how?" Seilah asked.

Kyoka leaned in and whispered in her ear, but thanks to Natsu's sensitive ears he knew what was being said. Panic began to swell up inside of him and he tried more frantically to regain his body control.

"Erza run! What they're gonna do is so much worse!" but it was too late Seilah already gave the order.

Suddenly everything inside of him felt more intensified like an inferno had been set off. His skin began to change forms; scales protruding, fangs and claws sharpening, and his wings breaking free of his back. Once the transformation was over he was once again attacking Erza. His speed and strength were tripled in this form and it was getting to the point where Erza couldn't keep up anymore. It wasn't long before he was boiling over with rage as he watched Erza stagger to try and keep standing. He felt himself wanting to give in to his old nature just so he could enjoy tearing the two demoness's causing this apart!

He yelled, he threatened, and he cursed the two. Natsu fought with everything in him but he couldn't break the Macro, and Seilah wouldn't release him until Erza hit the ground.

"Now what Kyoka? Should we have our fallen master kill his lowly companion?" Seilah asked.

Kyoka smiled sadistically. "What a lovely idea…"

That comment was all it took and Natsu lost it. His world turned to flames and he relinquished control to his inner beast he finally broke the Macro and attacked his former underlings…

X

Gajeel was trying to enjoy their groups quick victory after all the participating guilds regrouped, but two certain Mermaids wouldn't get off his back about Erza being left alone with two demons. Not to mention Salamanders cat defending his honor to the two women. All in all they were giving him a headache. He was just about to yell at them to shut the hell up when he caught a familiar scent on the wind. One confirming look to the other dragons and he was rushing over the hill. He didn't have to go far before he found them. E.N.D was bruised and extremely bloody, Erza was worse off. She was pasted out and being carried by him. Gajeel couldn't believe his eyes right now. Of all the people to be in this condition Erza was the last person he'd expected.

E.N.D only made it far enough to hand off Erza to Gajeel before he passed out too. By that point the others had caught up to him. Everyone started freaking out all at once and Gajeel was over it.

"Shaddup!" He yelled and that seem to do the trick.

"Jet, get your ass in gear and go tell Wendy she's gonna have two patients soon. Then get over to Lamia Scale, see if you can get their healer to help out. Levy you still got that emergency med. Kit Wendy gave you right?"

"Yes" Not needing any explanation she came forward and started pulling out supplies. That got a slight smile out of the iron dragon demon.

"We're gonna patch them up as best we can then we'll get them back to Wendy for proper treatment. The rest of ya, get to scouting out the area. Make sure we got rid of all the Dark guild goons in this area. We don't want to leave the Ponies blind to another attack."

It didn't take long for everyone to get to work. Levy gave him a quick proud smile before getting back to work. Gajeel would never admit to blushing from that but a certain black cat was not far away and watching amused.

X

Lucy fell to her knees smiling. She'd just finished making contracts with all of her keys. Jellal had been right, the gold keys took more out of her than the silver keys did. If it hadn't been for Wendy she probably would have taken days to finish the contracts instead of hours. Some of the spirits, however, were such odd balls. Taurus was a big one, he was such a perverted bull that she had a feeling she wouldn't call on him unless she absolutely needed to. Another was the lion spirit Loke, he was supposed to be called Leo but he told her he preferred the other name. He wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for how flirtatious he had been. One spirit however had terrified Lucy down to her core. Aquarius was vicious and temperamental. She for certain would be cautious when summoning that spirit.

Regardless of their personalities though, Lucy was genuinely happy to meet all of them. She felt as if she were suddenly surrounded by so many new friends that she could count on, it made her heart sing!

"You both did wonderfully today. I think you've earned a break from training. We'll pick this back up tomorrow." Jellal said.

Lucy was finally starting to get used to the mans odd presence. It was like he was a walking contradiction. On the one hand he was calm and kind, on the other he let off a pressure like a warriors. He was deadly and it was obvious even as he stood there smiling peacefully. He was most certainly an odd fellow she would be careful not to make angry.

They were all leaving the training room so the girls could clean up before they started dinner when Wendy stopped mid step. They all turned to the small girl with curious looks. However instead of an explanation, she bolted for the front entrance. Wasting no time wondering what was up, they all followed after her. Once there, Wendy threw open the front doors and lifted the barrier around the dragons castle. A blur rushed at them from out of no where and Lucy took a step back unsure of what was happening.

The blur stopped just short of them Revealing a tall man with orange hair and a frazzled girl not much older than Wendy with pink hair and dizzy looking blue eyes.

"Jet! Shelia?! What are you two doing here?" Wendy asked confused.

"Its bad Wendy…" The Pink haired girl said.

"Erza and E.N.D were fighting Kyoka while the rest of us fought the grunts. They're both in bad condition. Gajeel and Levy should be bringing them here as we speak. Neither of them were even conscious when I left to get Shelia." The orange haired man said.

Lucy was about to state her worry for the two when everyone felt an intense pressure building behind them. Lucy turned to look and saw an absolutely livid looking Jellal. Lucy was just beginning to get the feeling she should back away from the imposing man when he burst into a blinding light. Lucy rubbed her eyes free of spots before looking around trying to find the man, but he was gone.

"Guess he went to check on Erza…" The man called Jet mumbled.

"Does he have a connection to Erza?" Lucy asked curious.

"They were childhood friends, but it's a bit more complicated than that." Wendy explained.

Lucy was gonna ask more but the look on the others faces told her she probably shouldn't. Instead she looked to Wendy and asked,

"Should we get ready for them to get here?"

Wendy's saddened look morphed into one of determination.

"Yes, Shelia and I should get ready. If you three wouldn't mind helping I'd be grateful."

They all agreed and Wendy closed the barrier before leading them all inside once more. Lucy was worried about Natsu and Erza. She barely knew either of them, plus there was the issues going on with her and Natsu, but in all honesty she wasn't ready to lose either of them. For the first time in her life since her mother was alive she had people she absolutely refused to lose. She had friends to protect and gods be damned if she wasn't going to do just that!


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey guys! I just wanted to quickly ask if anybody has any requests for this story. Like if there is a character you want to know the back story on, or two characters you wish to get some more lovey dovey time together. Just leave me a comment or a message and I'll do my best to incorporate your request's into the story. Thanks and enjoy!**

* * *

Lucy sat by Natsu's side waiting for him to wake up. It'd been a whole day since Erza and Natsu had been brought to the castle unconscious. It was only thanks to Jellals' Meteor spell that they got here in time. Erza was in critical condition and the normal amount of time it would have took to get her here would have been too late. Wendy and the pink haired girl Shelia had worked through the night to get her stable again. Natsu was healing on his own so he wasn't as much of an issue, but the girls still managed to help his healing along as much as possible before they ran out of Magick power.

Both girls were currently resting in Wendy's room. Erza had been given a temporary room near hers. Jellal ended up canceling Lucy and Yukino's training for the day so he could watch over Erza. Lucy could tell he cared for the spirited red head on a deep level. She wanted to pry for more info but felt now wasn't the best time to do so…

So with nothing else to do, Lucy settled in next to Natsu in their shared room reading one of the only books in the castles library that was written in a language she could understand. It wasn't a particularly thrilling book, but it kept her interest. It was a collection of fairy tales from this realm. It was interesting how different the stories were from the ones she grew up with.

She was in the middle of one called The Last Fairy when Natsu began to stir from sleep. Setting the book on the bed side table, she watched as he slowly started to wake up. Letting out a big yawn and stretching until his spine cracked; he didn't notice Lucy until he rolled on his side to doze more. The second he did he shot up and scooted so far over on the bed he almost fell off.

"L-Lucy?!"

"Hey Natsu … I'm glad to see you awake."

He looked around confused, wondering how he got back to the castle.

"Gajeel and Levy got you and Erza halfway here. Jellal brought the two of you the rest of the way." Lucy explained guessing what he was thinking.

His eyes went wide at the mention of Erza.

"How is she? Is Erza alright?" He practically yelled.

Lucy nodded not minding his loudness.

"Thanks to Jellal she got here just in time. As far as I know she hasn't woken up yet, but Jellal is by her side. She'll be fine."

Natsu instantly relaxed, falling back onto the bed and sighing in relief. As it sank in his stomach let out an impressive growl and Lucy giggled a bit.

"There's a plate of food for you on the table over there, Happy said you'd be hungry when you finally woke up." She said pointing to the table in the center of the room.

Hopping up once again, he headed to the table with a big grin on his face.

"Happy is awesome, always looking out for me!"

Taking the plate off the table, Lucy watched as his hands began to glow with heat. In no time at all his food was heated up once again.

"That must be a handy power to have…" Lucy said in a thoughtful manner.

"Yeah it is. I never have to worry about being cold, food is easy to cook, and when I need to I can burn some butts in a fight!" That last bit made Lucy laugh.

Natsu glanced at her from the corner of his eye and sighed. Lucy stopped laughing and gave him a curious look.

"Natsu?"

He hesitated a moment before turning to face her with a serious expression.

"Luce… I need to apologize for the other night. I wasn't exactly in my right mind…"

"Its okay Natsu, Lily explained it all to me. It was the Dragons Blood Root that made you act that way. I wont hold it over you or hate you for what happened. Lets just forget what happened alright?" she finished saying with a smile.

Natsu took a minute to fully comprehend what just happened. He couldn't believe she'd forgive him just like that! On something or not he'd still assaulted her and had enjoyed doing it, he deserved a lot worse for that. Yet she just forgave him. Plain and simple forgave him… It was official: Lucy Heartfillia was not normal. Natsu started to bust up laughing and Lucy gave him a curious look.

"Why are you laughing?" She asked confused.

This just made him laugh more and Lucy puffed out her cheeks in annoyance.

"You….You're just….such a..w-weirdo!" He managed to get out in between laughing.

"I am not a weirdo!" She said defiantly grabbing one of the pillows off the bed and tossing it at him.

He caught it easily giving her a cocky smirk that made her look away blushing a bit as she pouted. Natsu just couldn't resist teasing her sometimes. She made it too easy! Ignoring him, Lucy choose to pick her book back up and read more, however, it didn't last long. Natsu didn't seem to like the silence and choose to break it.

"Hey Luce, whatcha reading?"

"A book of fairy tales. It was kinda the only thing in the library that was in a language I could read."

Natsu quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Ya know, I'm sure Levy would be more than willing to help you learn some of the languages here. She's probably the best person to ask actually. Freed would teach too fast to keep up with."

"I've thought about it, but I don't want to over load my self with too many new things. So I planned on finishing my training with Jellal first."

Natsu grinned. He'd been curious how things were going for her with the training.

"So what all has Jellal taught you?" he asked eager to hear what she had learned so far.

Lucy sat the book down and beamed at him. Her smile was so bright and happy that Natsu swore it made his face heat up and his heart skip a beat.

"Wanna see what I've learned?" She asked eagerly.

"Sure!"

With that Lucy got up and grabbed her keys, before standing in the middle of the room.

"Now, I cant use the gold keys to demonstrate because they are more powerful and used for battle, not to mention Jellal said they use more magick power to summon, but I can summon a silver key." She explained as she picked one off her key ring.

"Alright, makes sense so far." Natsu responded.

Taking a deep breath, Lucy readied herself to summon one of her keys. When she felt she had enough magick built up she held up the key.

"Open gate of Canis Minor! Nikola!" She intoned the summoning spell Jellal told her and Yukino they'd use after a contract had been formed.

As she waved the key in a cross like motion it began to glow and a magick circle appeared. It was this circle that opened the path to the stars and allowed the spirits to cross. With one last burst of light the spirit of the little dog constellation popped out. As odd and un-dog like as he appeared, Lucy still thought this particular spirit was adorable!

"Welcome back Plue!" Lucy said cheerfully as she held her arms out for the little creature.

"Whoa… What is it anyway?" Natsu asked slightly impressed she could do it, but slightly not because of _What_ she summoned.

"He's a Nikola, Jellal said there are a bunch of these little guys all over the spirit world. They aren't any good in a fight, but they make great companions because of how little magick they use up to keep around." She explained hugging Plue to her happily.

"And you said his name is Plue…Right?" Natsu asked doubtfully.

"Well that's what I call him anyway. He doesn't seem to mind it." This made Natsu chuckle.

"Happy told me you had horrible naming sense.., but I didn't realize he wasn't exaggerating!"

Lucy puffed out her cheeks.

"What are you talking about? I have great naming sense!"

"Scoofulfunts…? Really?" Natsu said with a smug and slightly amused look on his face.

Lucy blushed. "Well I thought it was a cute name for him at the time…"

Natsu just laughed. Lucy pouted for a bit before joining him in his laughter. He just had one of those contagious laughs. From there they talked about Lucy's magick and all the spirits she had. Natsu listened intently mesmerized by the overjoyed look she had the whole time. If he'd been talking with anybody else, he'd have lost interest by now and stop paying attention. There was just something about Lucy that made him want to keep listening.

He couldn't explain it. It was like the light inside her shone so brilliantly and warm that it soothed the burning darkness in him. If that really was the case, he didn't want to lose that feeling. It reminded him too much of his past, before everything went to hell. It reminded him of home…

X

From that point on they stayed in his room talking about random topics, much like when Natsu used to visit her in the human realm. Eventually the subject returned to the book she was reading and Natsu felt a bit of dread slowly creeping in.

"But yeah, the story I'm currently on is called _The Last Fairy_. I'm liking it a lot but there's just a few things I don't understand and its kind of confusing me." Lucy said, distracted by the book.

"Like what exactly?" Natsu asked.

"Like they keep using this word I don't recognize 'Sidhe'. Do you know what it means?"

"Oh that's easy. Sidhe is us." Natsu stated simply.

"Huh?"

"In ancient times any who were of magickal origin were called 'Sidhe'. I think now a days people just use the general term for fairies, Fea, instead. Sidhe is more accurate though 'cuz it covers a wider range of magick folk."

Lucy nodded in understanding. "That makes a lot of sense then. Another thing I'm confused on is, what's a Spriggan?"

Natsu hoped she wouldn't ask about that…

"Well humans tend to think it refers to an ugly fairy, or sometimes an evil fairy."

"Is that not true?" Lucy asked.

Before Natsu could answer there was a knock on the door and he sighed in relief knowing who it was by the scent coming from the cracks in the wood.

"Come on in Levy!"

The petite bluenette opened the door with a smile on her face.

"Glad to see you're up as well E.N.D" She said cheerfully.

Lucy got up and hugged the shorter woman in welcome while Natsu quirked an eyebrow and asked:

"'As well?'"

"I was just coming to tell Lu-Chan Erza finally woke up. You guys want to go see her?"

"Yeah! Sounds good to me, you coming Natsu?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah I'll catch up though. I wanna get dressed first. Don't wanna be caught acting like the ice prick."

The girls chuckled and left the room. Natsu chuckled to himself and stood up. Giving his body a good stretch; he groaned when he felt a painful pop in his side. He needed to visit the healing springs in Hosenka Village, work out some of the aches and sores from all his recent fights. _Maybe I can take Lucy, she's always saying how much she enjoys baths…Speaking of Luce…_

Natsu looked to the book she had been reading. Picking it up he flinched when he saw the picture. The Spriggan and the Fairy sharing their first and final kiss. Placing his finger over the face of the Spriggan, Natsu burned out the picture of its face before dropping the book back on the bed.

"You deserved what happened to you… Mavis didn't."

With a heavy sigh and a motivating slap to his cheeks, Natsu grabbed a pair of pants and a vest. He quickly got dressed and headed out. He had too much to worry about now to fret over the past. So with a heavy heart in tow he used his nose to lead him to the room they were keeping Erza in. After all he still had to apologize to her for what happened.

"Man it seems like all I do lately is apologize to people! I'm starting to get sick of it!"

When he found the room the first thing he saw was Jellal standing outside it. He had obviously not slept since hearing about what had happened do to the dark circles under his eyes. The relief on his face, however, showed just how worried about Erza he had been. Natsu felt a pang of guilt. It was his fault, Jellal hardly ever worried about anything. Noticing Natsu, Jellal turned to face him.

"Hey E.N.D…"

"Hey Jellal… Whens the last time you slept?"

"I'll be fine. How are your injuries?" The fallen star asked, clearly trying to turn the conversation away from himself.

"Sore but that's about it. Good thing about being a demon: we heal fast."

Jellal just gave a nod in response. Natsu sighed and clapped him on the shoulder before walking inside. He noticed was that several people were in there as well. Kagura and Milliana from Mermaid Heel gave him twin looks of disgust as soon as they saw him. Natsu had to resist the urge to flinch from their stares. Gray had also shown up. He was currently shirtless and helping Erza to sit up slowly.

Natsu thought he was going to be sick. Erza was almost completely covered in bandages and her arm was in a cast. Half her face was so bruised it was hard to tell it was even her! He had been the one to do this. He was the one who hurt her! Clearing his throat, Natsu walked over to her side and he was happy to see her greet him with her usual calm smile.

"E.N.D, it's good to see you up." She said as if she weren't the one stuck in a bed. Natsu let out a self loathing laugh.

"How you feeling Erza?" He ask.

"Frustrated that I can't leave this bed yet, but other wise fine. Wendy and Shelia did a wonderful job on my injuries."

This caused one girl to blush and the other to smile proudly. Natsu gave them both an appreciative smile before turning back to Erza.

"Erza… Look, I'm sorry about this… I should have been able to resist but I just… couldn't."

"E.N.D, I don't blame you at all. Besides, I think you actually were resisting."

"What do you mean?" He asked confused.

"Think about it. They were using a Macro to order you to kill me. Usually those orders are absolute, yet here I am. It wasn't for lack of power because we all know how powerful you truly are. You resisted enough to keep me alive and for that I thank you."

Natsu felt a tightening in his chest. Erza had a point about the Macro being absolute, but it really felt like he had been powerless against it. Still, all the smiles everyone in the room (except the two haters of course) were giving him made his heart hurt in the best way. He felt accepted.

"Just in case Seilah gave another order we don't know about, though, you should stay close to either the castle or the guild for a while so we can keep an eye on you."

Natsu nodded. "Yeah, I'll probably go a little stir crazy but it is a good idea." After all he didn't want to risk hurting another of his friends.

"Wow, the flame brain is actually agreeing with out a fight? Hell must have finally frozen over!" Gray commented snidely.

"You wanna go Ice Perv.!? I'll take you on right now!" Natsu yelled back.

And of course a small fight broke out between the two. It was quickly extinguished, though, by Erza's commanding voice.

"Enough! Just because I am bed ridden does not mean I cant teach you two a lesson about behaving with one another!"

Both men immediately shut off their fight and in unison stammered out an 'Aye!'.

After that everyone but Kagura, Millianna, and Jellal left the room. It was obviously an uncomfortable situation for the three as the two women hated Jellal greatly. Taking one last look at the room, Natsu instantly felt sorry for the man. _If it was possible I'd say they may just hate him more than me!_ Turning back around, Natsu decided to follow everyone one into the dinning hall. He saw Wendy, Shelia, and Carla heading for Wendy's room. He guessed they wanted girl time or something.

When they got to the dinning hall, they all sat down and got everyone up to speed on what was going on. Apparently the rest of the dragons had stayed behind helping Blue Pegasus clean up the damages from the battle and keep an eye out for any dark guilds that may have stuck around after the fight. Of course once that was all discussed, everyone else wanted to know how Lucy and Yukino were doing with their training. As Natsu had already had this conversation with Lucy, he decided to kick back and people watch instead.

Happy was on the table munching on fish while he listened, occasionally making snide remarks at Lucy's expense. Natsu chuckled at his little buddy's antics. Gajeel and Levy were sitting next to each other again, and judging from the looks Gajeel was getting from Jet and Droy, they weren't too thrilled about it. Natsu smirked. Those two were so obvious that even someone who didn't pay attention most of the time (like Natsu) could tell!

He noticed the girls all getting along just fine. Levy was the biggest book worm in all Fairy Tail, but it looked like Lucy could give her a run for her money. Yukino seemed equally interested in books, so the three of them had plenty to talk about. The topic of books normally bored Natsu to death but he couldn't get the image of what Lucy had been reading in the bedroom out of his mind. If she wanted to read some really good books, and none with any horrific historical events to ruin them, then he should show her to the guilds library. After all she still hasn't been there yet. Most of the time everyone just came to the castle to visit her. Maybe Natsu would take her there soon.

Natsu was so lost in his thoughts that it took him a moment to process what he was seeing. Gray was next to Lucy, half naked as usual, with his arm draped around her shoulders. Natsu had missed what the flasher had said, but whatever it was she was blushing from it! The primal part of Nastu's brain took over then and with blinding speed he shot over and punched Gray off of the blonde. Gray was so caught off guard that it took him a minute to figure out what the hell had just happened to him. When he realized it, he shot to his feet and went at Natsu. They proceeded to fight and the others laughed at their childish behavior. Natsu took a moment to glance at Lucy. She was watching him with a bright smile and laughter in her eyes. In that moment she looked more star like than ever.

This was the happiest Natsu had been in centuries. He had friends that had his back, a home he felt comfortable in, and a woman he felt himself falling for despite how much he probably shouldn't. Life was still throwing shit his way with the war and all, but he just couldn't find the common sense to care…


	18. Chapter 18

Weeks went by and Lucy continued to excel at her training. During one of her many sessions with her spirits, she received a whip from Virgo, to see if she might be able to utilize it in battle. Boy did she! The Fleuve D'etoiles (or River of Stars) was an extendable whip she could freely control with some of her Magick. It was great to have as a back up in case she couldn't summon any spirits to help (of course if it weren't for Jellal refusing to teach her and Yukino any of the casting spells they were supposed to be able to do she wouldn't need it!). Yukino, however, was doing extremely well in the hand to hand training she was doing. Sting and Rouge choose to be the ones to teach her in that area. As for Lucy…

She sighed as she watched her "teachers" duking it out. Natsu and Gray had jumped at the oportunaty to help her out, but everytime she started to make a bit of progress with one of them, they ended up getting into a fight with each other instead. She had attempted sparing with Jellal once, but he was so far out of her leage that she didn't even last a minute against him! Speaking of the bluenette… He was currently in a sparring match against a fully healed Erza. The red head looked like she was finding it difficult not to blush the whole time. The attraction between those two was so obvious in the way they faught that Lucy found it oddly inspiring.

Grabbing her little over the shoulder bag, Lucy headed outside for some fresh air. Ever since she found out how amazing the outside was in this realm, she spent as much time there as possible. Of course she had to be carful not to cross the barrier by accident. Apparently it was put up so that the Etherious couldn't track any unique magicks beyond that point, and being as her magick was extreamly unique they would be able to find her in seconds.

Setting her bag down by her favorite tree (an old willow with just enough coverage from the sun and cushey moss under neath that someone could easily nap under it for hours), Lucy walked to the center of the yard where it was clear of any trees or bushes and pulled out her keys. Finding the key to the sea goats gate she pulled it out and focused her magick on it.

"Open Gate of the Sea Goat, Capricorn!"

Almost imeadiatly the humanoid goat appeared and bowed to her.

"Lady Lucy, as always it is a pleasure to serve you."

With a smile on her face she nodded to him before taking a fighting stance. Nothing against Natsu and Gray, but Lucy found she prefered to train with her spirits outside free from judging eyes. Everyone was just trying to help her of course, but her spirits seem to understand she was a beginner better than the others did. Heck! Yukino was even more experianced than she was at hand to hand! Although Loke was the strongest fighter of her spirits, she liked Capricorn to teach her more because of his thourough explinations and patience with her.

Lucy also found that training with her spirits like this helped to increase her magickal stamina as well. So with that in mind she had continued to sneak away when possible and train her way. Capricorn kept her on a strict rutine of physical training, meditation, and then usually a lesson or two on the history of Star Children depending on how exhasted she was at the end. Todays training, however, was a little different. Halfway through the fight she and Capricorn were currently in, Lucy got the feeling of being watched. When Capricorn smiled and nodded at her, her suspicions were confirmed.

Feeling self concious, but at the same time wanted to show off for who ever it was, Lucy doubled her focus and kept at it. Natsu had said time and time again that her "Lucy Kick" was deadly enough to take out even the toughest opponents, so she had paid special attention to how well she could use different kicks. She also got the hang of incorperating her whip into the fight, finding that if she kept it just the right length she could wrap it around Capricorns rist and fling him away from her or trip him up at some points.

Unfortunately, Capricorn like to sponaneously up the level of his fighting style and catch her off guard. She knew it was to help her improve but it did get on her nerves sometimes. Especially when she was starting to do well. He managed to knock her off her feet and she landed painfully on her butt. Letting out a pained whine, Lucy looked up at her smiling spirit and sighed.

"You got me again…" she grumbled.

"But you are improving. Soon I speculate you wont even need my training services."

Lucy rolled her eyes.

"I highly doubt that, but thanks for the confidence boost anyway."

With a small nod he continued onto the meditation part of her rutine. Lucy still felt the eyes on her but she choose to ignore it and put her full focus on the task at hand. She was so fucused that she failed to notice the time going by, when Capricorn ended the days session and said his fairwells it was already sundown. With a big stretch and a satisfied sigh, she got up and went back over to her tree. She sat down with her back to it and pulled the fairy tale book from her bag. She had been so busy lately that she still hadnt finished the _Last Fairy_ story. She was looking for the page she had left off on when she noticed Natsu popping his head out from a bush near the door to the castle. _So he'd been the one watching…_

"Natsu what are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be inside fighting with someone?"

"I don't fight all the time Luce…Beside, I wanted to watch you train." He said as he made his way over to her and plopped down next to her.

"Why? I cant imagine watching me stubble around could be very interesting…unless you wanted to make fun of me for doing so poorly." She gave him an accusing glare and he held his hands up in a surrendering motion.

"Not true Luce! Maybe at first, you were pretty hilarious to watch-" He had to dodge Lucy's hand as she went to smack him. He just chuckled and wrapped and arm around her shoulders.

"But seriously Luce, you've improved a lot. I like watching you now 'cause you're doing so well." That made Lucy blush.

"You really think so?"

He nodded and Lucy smiled.

"Actually if you had kept relying on me and Gray you probably wouldn't be doing as well… We arent the best teachers…"

"Jee you think?"

She smirked at him and he mussed her hair a bit. They sat in companionable silence after that while Lucy tried to find her place in the book again. Natsu eyed it warily. When she finally did, she gasped at the sight of the burned picture. Natsu winced knowing she'd know it was him. Sure enough she turned to glare at him.

"Natsu…"

"I can explain!" He hurridly said. Lucy just quirked an eyebrow at him.

Sighing he did his best to explain.

"That story… isnt just a story. It actually happened, and I knew the Spriggan in the story."

Lucy blinked at him surprised.

"He… wasn't the greatest guy in the world… in fact he was completely evil."

"But this story makes him seem so sad and lonely, not evil."

Natsu laughed humorlessly and glared at the book.

"That was his 'I don't want to harm any one so I'll stay away from people' faze. He'd go back and forth a lot through the ages, but it never stuck he'd always go back to being an evil bastard in the end."

Lucy looked back to the book before hesitantly asking:

"Is…Is this Zeref?"

Natsu looked at her shocked that she knew that name.

"Yukino told me about him. She also told me about your past…"

Many emotions played over Natsu's face at that moment: shock, worry, and most of all anger.

"Why would she tell you that?"

"S-she said it would be best if I knew. She also wanted me to hear from someone who doesn't have a negative view of you so I wouldn't hear a false or over exagerated version of it."

That made Natsu confused.

"I barely know her though, you'd think she'd be just like everyone else and assume I'm still a horrible person…"

"Natsu, don't you remember? She told me you helped her stay in her guild before. She said she was extreamly greatful to you."

And now he looked even more confused.

"You don't remember that do you?"

He just shook his head and grinned.

"Nope, but I guess this means I don't have to worry about hanging around her anymore. I always like to stay away from people until I know how they feel about me. Less drama that way."

Lucy felt a bit of pain in her chest for him. Natsu constantly had to watch how he acted towards people in case they hated or feared him still. No wonder he was so care free and rowdy around the people he knew. They didn't care who he was so he didn't have to worry as much.

"So how much did she end up telling you?" Natsu asked suddenly serious again.

"Oh, um just that Zeref was the one who created the Etherious and bunch of other bad stuff… and that you used to be the leader of the Etherious."

"Leader… right. I was the strongest so everybody did what I said. I wouldnt exactly call that leading."

"No offence Natsu but I cant see you as this evil demon everyone keeps claiming you were. They way you are now is totally different."

That made Natsu grin.

"Good, cause I don't ever want to be like that again. Ever."

Lucy smiled at him and nodded.

"I agree, your fine the way you are now."

They sat in companionable silence for a while after that, Lucy continued to read until it got too dark to do so. Natsu sat right by her side just enjoying her company and slowly starting to doze off. He was almost completely out when he heard Lucy gasp beside him. Jerking awake her looked around expecting an enemy or something, but when he saw no one he looked to her. She was gazing up at the sky completely entranced.

"Whatcha lookin' at Luce?"

"The stars! They're so much more vibrant here than back home!"

Natsu looked up to the sky and frowned. He didn't much like looking at the stars, they reminded him of what he lost. Lucy noticed his lack of a response and glanced at him. He had the saddest expression on his face. Almost like he was in physical pain!

"N-Natsu? Whats wrong?"

He closed his eyes breifly before opening them to look at her. Lucy almost gasped. His eyes held the look of someone who was very old and very sad…

"It's nothing Luce, I'm fine."

She frowned and sighed.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised…" She mumbled half to herself.

"Whats that Luce?"

"You havent really known me for that long of a time so I shouldn't be surprised that you don't really trust me with stuff yet."

Natsu winced a bit. He didn't mean to make her feel like that. It really was nothing she should have to worry about. It was just something he's delt with for so long he didn't really bother telling people about it.

"Listen Luce, I'm not a very talkative person, especially when it has to do with my past. Most people don't push me for answers so I'm really not used to having to explain most of the time, but…I don't want you to feel like I don't trust you with stuff."

She smiled a bit and scooted around so that she was facing him more. He sighed and scratched the back of his head, trying to figure out where to start.

"I haven't even told Happy a lot of this…Did Yukino happen to explain how this realm came to be?"

Lucy shook her head.

"In human culture this realm almost predates their history, but Sidhe culture has older records than the humans do, so we actually know how it came to be. Origanally Sidhe and humans lived side by side in one whole realm. We lived in peace for the longest time. That is until Zeref came along. He had studied almost every form of Black Magick there was at the time and made life a living hell for everyone with his curses and monsters. It got so bad that the humans began to not only hate him but any and all Sidhe as well, grouping us all together as evil beings who wanted nothing but to make life miserable for them.

So in a moment of desperation they called on the Gods praying that they save them from the Sidhe. The answer they were given, weather it was the gods doing or just some extreamly powerful Sidhe is up for debate but, the Magick realm was created and sealed off from the human realm. It succeded in trapping Zeref here, but it also trapped anyone who had magick flowing through their viens; creature or blessed human alike."

"…What kind of Sidhe was he?" Lucy couldn't help but ask.

"Human origonally."

"Origonally?"

"He started out as a human blessed by the God Ankhseram." Natsu explained.

"I've never heard of that God."

"I'm not surprised. He's one of the oldest recorded gods to exsist. He held power over life and death and was known for cursing more often than blessing. He didn't like when peple took his job. Unfortunatly for Zeref he did just that. He toyed with the balance of life and death with out concern for the damage it would cause to the natural flow of the world. His hu- huba…uh… whats that word for god like ego?"

"Hubirus."

"Yeah! His hubirus got him cursed for all eternaty. As his punishment he was turned into a Spriggan."

"He was turned into an ugly fairy?" Lucy asked confused.

"Spriggans are cursed creatures of death and destruction. They are viewed as the worst possible kind of Sidhe, worse even than us demons and Etherious. Nothing tops the hatred of Spriggan in this world. They have no control over the death magick they posess and the more they try to rein it in the more out of control it gets."

Lucy looked down at the ruined picture of the Spriggan in the story book. To think she had once thought the creature tragic and worthy of sympathy. With a heavy sigh she closed the book and put it back in her bag. When she looked back to Natsu he was staring at the sky with that same pained look on his face.

"Its not just that he was a horrible person is it? He did something to you didn't he Natsu?" Lucy asked guessing why the story hurt so much to tell.

"Yeah… he did something…unforgivable to me."

Lucy didn't want to push him, but at the same time she was dying to know the rest of it. It almost looked as if he wasn't going to continue when he suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace and burried his face into her hair.

"This next part is painful so just… bare with me alright Luce?"

Hugging him back just as tight she felt him shaking.

"Natsu… If its too hard you don't have to."

"But I gotta Luce… I've been holding it in for so long….I want to tell someone…And you're the only person I feel can understand the pain I went through because of him."

Lucy didn't know what to say to that so she just shook her head telling him to continue. After taking a shakey breath he went on.

"See I'm not just one of Zerefs' Demons…I was once human. I was Zerefs younger brother.."

Lucy was shocked by this but didn't interupt as the rest of the story seem to spill from him like a river freed from a dam.

"I was about six when it happened. Zeref was away from home running some errands for our parents, when out of nowhere a hoard of Dragons attacked our village. All I remember was my mother holding me crying as the house fell down around us. Next thing I knew, I was in a warm happy place. I didn't feel any pain, sadness, or fear. I was just content. This lasted a long time, I couldn't keep tract of time but I later found out it was a few years, before everything went wrong. Everything suddenly went dark and my world burst into a fiery inferno filled with pain and suffering. I remember trying to cry out, begging anyone that would listen to make it stop! Right as I was about to reach my breaking point, it stopped. Everything settled down, the inferno became tame, the pain was still there but I no longer felt it, and all my emotions seemed to be locked away.

I opened my eyes and found myself back in my body, except it was different. I had red scales and black maarkings covering my skin, my hands had turned to claws, I had fangs and wings, and my body burned with an un-natural heat. Zeref had resurected me after years of failed attempts, that's what the other etherious are: his failed attempts at bringing me back."

"You…You mean you actually died?" Lucy could hardly believe it.

"Yeah, that warm safe place I was in before… I can only assume that was my star. You see now why I hate him?"

It took Lucy a minute to comprehend what he was saying, but when she got it all the color drained from her face.

"H-He tore your soul from your star!"

Natsu nodded.

"Not only that…In doing so he also destroide my star. I….I no longer have a home to return to. When I die this go around, I'll just fade away. I cant be reborn ever again."

Natsu sounded like he was on the edge of crying now.

Lucy gave him one more good squeeze before pulling away from the embrace they were still in.

"I hate to ask but, how do you know your star is gone?"

Natsu scrubbed his face to try and rid himself of the tears he hadn't even shed yet.

"Back when I was still human, my family was friendly with this clan of star children. When Zeref grew to be evil most of them had turned their backs on us. One didn't though. Her name was Anna. She held on to the hope that he would give up on his foolish attempts to resurrect me. After I had been brought back I over heard them arguing. She was demanding to know what he had done to me because she could no longer see my star in the night sky. That's how I know."

"But that cant be true, Maybe she just lost track of it or something!"

That made Natsu smile.

"Thanks for caring Luce but its fine really." He meant to bring her back into a hug but she moved away from him and got up instead.

She left the coverage of the tree they were under and stood in the middle of the clearing. She just stood there silent and staring intently at the sky.

"Uh….Luce? Watcha doing?" Natsu asked getting up and walking over to her.

"Looking for your star idiot! I refuse to believe its gone!"

"U-uh…." Now he was stuck between being touched that she cared so much and being angry from being called an idiot. This girl was something else entirely…

"Thank you Lucy…"

That was all he was able to say to her right now. He was still raw from telling her everything, even if he wanted to make a snarky remark he didn't think he'd be able to. Lucy smiled and hugged him. It took him a moment but he eventually hugged her back and buried his face in her hair like he had before. Taking a deep breath he smelled her stardust scent and began to relax again. Her scent was just as comforting as her touch.

Lucy wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, but honestly she didn't care. She wanted Natsu to be happy again. Ever since she'd met him hardly a moment went by when he wasn't smiling. That's how she always wanted to see him. When she finally felt the tension leave his body she pulled back to look at his face. What she saw, however, she did not expect.

His serious expression would have made her think he was angry with her had it not been for the gentle heat in his eyes. It was then that she realized the close way they were holding each other. Blush crept up her face and she tried to pull away, but he held her firmly in place.

"N-Natsu?" She timidly said.

He just leaned in closer to her, causing their noses to lightly touch. She could feel his breath ghosting over her own lips and she knew all it would take was for her to lean in a bit more and they'd kiss. Honestly she'd thought about kissing him a lot since the incident with the dragons blood root. She knew how warm and soft his lips were, it wouldn't be the end of the world if she just leaned in a bit more…

Lucy heard the side door to the castle open up and panicked. She pushed Natsu away from her causing him to fall on his butt. She hurriedly took several steps away from him and turned to see Happy holding open the door and looking at the two of them curiously.

"The hell Luce!?" Natsu yelled rubbing his poor bruised back side.

"S-Sorry!"

"What were you guys doing?" Happy asked floating over to them.

"Nothing!" They both said while blushing.

Happy smirked and covered his mouth with a paw.

"You two weren't doing naughty stuff were you?"

"Stupid cat! Of course we weren't!" Lucy yelled.

Happy just laughed. "You two lliiiikkkeee each other 3!"

"Knock it off Happy." Natsu said as he got up, dusting himself off.

With a final chuckle Happy nodded.

"I actually came to tell you both dinner is ready."

That put a smile back on Natsu's face.

"Awesome! Lets go before all the good meat gets taken!" Taking Lucy's hand and not waiting for a response started dragging her to the dinning hall. Happy followed still smirking.

Lucy could help but think more on their almost kiss. She didn't think Natsu liked her that way. Heck after watching Mira's younger sister practically throw herself at him the other day and him give no reaction at all to it, Lucy had thought maybe he wasn't interested in a relationship with anyone, but now… Lucy was just thoroughly confused.

All she knew for certain was that Natsu was a confusing idiot and she had really, _really_ wanted to kiss him outside… _Damnit_ …


	19. Chapter 19

Not gonna lie…This was a filler chapter. I needed to figure out how to start on the main dram llama shit but didn't want to keep you guys waiting so…Enjoy~

Natsu and Lucy didn't get a chance to talk about what had happened that night. At dinner most of their guests had announced that they would be leaving soon. So they were all hanging out in order to see them all properly off. Erza and Levy were going to escort Shelia back to her guild before heading back to Fairy Tail themselves. Gray planned on staying another week before taking off, and Jellal had announced the same much to Lucy and Yukino's shock. They hadn't learned everything from him yet and were worried about his leaving. Jellal ensured them that by the weeks end they would learn everything he could possibly ever teach them. The girls didn't seem so sure but agreed regardless.

Natsu had wanted to talk to Lucy, but sneaking off with her during dinner would have been suspicious so he had planned to talk when they went to bed, but the girls ended up having a sleep over in Wendy's room. He just couldn't win and it left him testy and impatient. Luckily all the guys decided to hang out in the training room in order to get as far away from the girls sleep over as possible. So he had plenty of people to take his frustrations out on. He was currently fighting Gray. Natsu enjoyed fighting with his ages old rival. Not only because Gray was fun to beat in a fight but because he enjoyed fighting his opposite. Though they were on similar levels as far as strength was concerned, magickally and the way in which they fought were completely different. Natsu was fire Gray was ice, Natsu was a demon Gray had Devil Slayer blood, Natsu fought instinctively Gray was tactical. The two could fight for days with out growing bored. In fact they had before.

The two had been out scouting a head of everybody and ended up starting a fight with each other. Even though it took days for anyone to find the two of them they still managed to fight the whole time (except to eat, sleep, and use the bathroom of course). Eventually they were found and Erza gave them both a good beating for making the rest of them worry. They weren't aloud to do scouting missions after that… They never admitted it to each other but those days they spent fighting had been a blast! Everyone assumed the two hated each other due to how different they were and how often they fought, and in the beginning it may have been that way but now….

Natsu could almost call them friends. If it weren't for Grays obligation to the Magick council… Natsu would consider the Devil Slayer a friend. Honestly Gray was a huge reason Natsu tried so hard to stay as he was now and not revert back into the demon he was before. The Magick Council, Era, had been the ones to set the conditions for his presence amongst the light guilds. One in particular stated that should he ever kill anyone or show signs of his old ways Gray, being the only known Devil Slayer, would use his anti-demon Magick to kill Natsu.

At the time Gray had easily agreed as he had reason to hate any demon from Zeref's hoard. After all he'd lost both his parents and teacher by the hands of the same demon, Deliora. They didn't get along from the moment they met and Gray would constantly watch him like a hawk anytime Natsu went off to do something on his own. He pretended not to notice but always knew when Gray was watching. As the years went by Gray began to back off and they slowly began to form a real relationship with each other. Gray would still get onto him about certain things, making sure Natsu stayed in line, but it seemed more out of concern for the demon rather than reprimanding.

He actually should have killed Natsu the day he saved Lucy, but given the situation and the fact that it happened in the human realm, (the council only cared about the magick realm) he and gramps had agreed to simply give Natsu a warning for the incident. It was a bitter reality now that they had gotten to know one another. Natsu actually worried what would become of Gray should he have to keep his promise to the council. It was one of his biggest motivators for sticking to the life he'd started. He didn't want Gray to suffer for his murderous nature.

Coming back to reality Natsu focused back on the fight. Currently he and Gray were sticking to hand to hand. They rarely used actual magick in their fights. Natsu was going full melee', but Gray was dodging with ease and he was starting to piss Natsu off with that smug look on his face. Mid-swing of another punch, Natsu began to feel a familiar pressure building up inside. Suddenly his speed increased and he ended up knocking Gray flat on his back. Natsu blinked down at his rival confused, before looking down at himself. The reason for his speed and strength boost was that he'd transformed.

"The hell E.N.D?! Why'd you transform?" Gray asked as he got up.

"I don't know. I didn't mean-" Natsu stopped talking as several magick circles appeared around him. Natsu groaned as it hit him.

"I'm being summoned again…"

Everyone in the room gave him sympathetic looks, except Gray.

The look on his rivals face spoke of how conflicted Gray truly was with everything. He didn't want to play the roll he'd been given.

"Don't kill anyone this time. Human or not , you still made a promise."

Natsu just nodded as he was swallowed up by magick and sent to the human realm once again.

Everyone was quiet for a minute before Gajeel spoke up.

"20,000 Jewel says he comes back with someone again."

That got conversation started up again. All the guys started placing bets on what would happen. All except Gray who was too busy heading for the room where the dragons kept their viewing lacrima and portal to the human realm. Some days he really regretted making that vow to the Magick Council all those years ago.

It wasn't long before he heard the guys following behind him. No doubt they wanted to keep tabs on the bets they made. Gray mostly ignored them and kept walking until he found the room. Once inside he fed the viewing lacrima some magick and focused it to find E.N.D. It didn't take him long, and he was immediately surprised by what he saw. Instead of the dark, creepy, often dirty cult ritual room he was used to seeing when checking on E.N.D in the human realm; Gray saw a clean, chandelier lit room with a warm atmosphere. Something about this summon wasn't right.

Gray was distracted for a moment by the girls coming into the room. He figured they had sensed the magick from the summoning circles and came to investigate. Lucy looked around slightly confused but not as much as usual, so Gray figured she'd been told what was going on. She noticed him and walked over to stand by him. He gave her an acknowledging nod before going back to watching. He just couldn't figure out why he had such a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. This place seemed so nice, tranquil, almost…holy.

"Why is Natsu in a church?"

Lucy's simple question sent a collective groan through most of the people in the room. That's why he felt uneasy about that room! If E.N.D was summoned by a church it could only mean they were trying to kill a demon to please whatever deity they worshiped. Which made no sense if you think about it, but most religious nuts tended not to make much sense.

"Dammit not this now! Like cults and psychos aren't annoying enough, now religious people want to summon us?!" Gajeel growled out.

"Wait why would a church want to summon you guys?" Lucy asked.

"Isn't it obvious? To do "Gods will" or whatever and kill us." Sting said as he rolled his eyes. "Stupid humans…"

Hearing the word 'Kill' made Lucy's eyes go wide with worry.

"Relax Lucy, Flame brain will be fine. He's just gotta get away long enough to open up a portal." Gray tried to reassure her.

"But there are so many of them! Even if they are weak, can he fight them all off long enough to get away?"

Gray looked back to the screen and internally sighed. Lucy had a point. There were a lot of them and it looked like E.N.D was slowly starting to lose ground. If they pushed him too far into a corner he'd have no choice but to retaliate at full force. Which also meant Gray would need to step in one way or another.

"We better send him some help…" Gray heard several people agree.

"Come on Gray. You and I shall go." Erza said stepping forward.

Gray was about to agree when Lucy spoke up.

"I want to go as well."

Everyone exchanged looks, but the fierce look in Lucy's eyes showed how serious she was. Gray couldn't help but smirk at her.

"Alright, but we have a rule about using magick in the human realm. Only use it if you absolutely need to and not a moment before. Got it?" Erza explained and Lucy nodded in agreement.

The three then gathered around a small lacrima on a decorative iron working stand (courtesy of Gajeel no doubt) that only came up to around Grays abdomen. Gray hated using the portals between realms, he always felt remnants of Zeref's magick on him afterward and it disgusted him, but he'd suck it up and get it over with because it was necessary. If only he could create his own like E.N.D could.

Mentally shaking his head, Gray focused on the task at hand and sent his magick into the lacrima along with his intended destination. It slowly began to glow and he grabbed Erza and Lucy's hands before the doorway opened up around them. The light that shot out from the crystal was almost blinding and Gray had to look away. He saw Lucy squeezing her eyes shut to keep from being blinded and he had to smirk a bit. E.N.D really got lucky with this one. She hadn't even known him that long at all and yet here she was, heading off to a fight to try and help him out. Gray couldn't help but feel a bit jealous. By that point the lacrima had finished powering up and started to consume the three in magick light. In no time at all they were swallowed up and sent to the human Realm.

X

When Lucy opened her eyes again after the light faded, she found herself outside a huge church in the human realm. She was about to comment on how creepy it looked from the outside when a choking feeling started to overtake her. Panicked she started to hyperventilate. Erza hurried to her and put her hands on Lucy's shoulders.

"Easy Lucy. Your body got so used to all the magick in our realm that the lack of it here is a shock to your system. It will fade but you have to breathe through it. Take long slow breaths."

Lucy did as she was told. Taking as deep of breaths as she could, she slowly started to feel herself adjusting to this realm again. With a sigh of relief she took a final breath and grinned.

"I'm good now, lets go."

Erza and Gray both nodded and headed for the door to the church. Lucy was determined to be of use in this fight. Natsu had saved her, now it was her turn to return the favor.

X

These people were getting on Natsu's damn last nerve. He'd been attacked with every kind of holy weaponry imaginable, the idiot humans kept coming at him no matter how many he knocked unconscious, not to mention he kept catching a familiar scent wafting around the church and it was pissing him off that he couldn't remember for the life of him who it belong to! So needless to say he was having a shitty time of it. Natsu was about to lose his patience and explode (possibly literally) when he heard sounds from the other side of the church. A wall blew to pieces and three new scents entered the room. Natsu almost panicked at smelling one in particular.

"What are you guys doing here?" he yelled trying to maneuver through the crowd of people still trying to attack him.

"Saving your useless ass flame for brains!" Gray yelled from where he was fighting.

"What'd you say you pervy flasher?!"

With added enemies; the church members had to lessen their attacks on Natsu. He found it easier to move now and slowly he made his way through the crowd trying to find Lucy. It wasn't like he didn't think she could handle herself. He knew from watching her train that she was more than capable, but he just couldn't help but to worry.

He finally found her at the back of the church and he couldn't help but stop and stare. She looked the part of an avenging Goddess! Her hair shown golden in the light from the over head chandeliers, and as he looked deeper into her eyes, he swore he could see flames of red and orange overtaking the beautiful brown. Her movements were so fluid and graceful it was almost like watching a dance. You couldn't even tell that she was a novice fighter! Natsu was so captivated he almost didn't notice the creeps trying top sneak up on him, but apparently Lucy did.

"Natsu look out!" she yelled before flicking her whip at one of the guys and using him to knock the other away from Natsu.

"Thanks Luce!" That was all he needed to get his mind back into the fight.

With all four of them there, it was easy work to incapacitate the rest of the people in the church. Natsu finished tying up the last of them before going over to check on Lucy who was bent at the waist breathing hard.

"How you feeling Luce?" He asked as he knelt beside her.

"Tired and out of breath but besides that…Fantastic!" She looked up and smiled at him while saying the last part.

Natsu had to look away, that smile was doing funny things to his heart.

"Heh… Just wait until the adrenaline wears off, you'll be dragging by that point."

Lucy continued to talk to him excitedly about how she was happy she could be helpful, and Natsu tried his hardest to pay attention to her but he kept getting whiffs of that strange scent from before. He swore he knew it but couldn't for the life of him place it! Curse his horrible memory! Ignoring the curious looks from his friends Natsu followed his nose hoping to find where it was coming from and possibly even who. If he could put a face to the scent maybe then he'd remember.

His nose lead him to the private quarters of the church to a locked door. Easily knocking it open, Natsu wondered inside, his nose telling him that this was where the person was. Only problem was: nobody was inside.

"This looks like the priests study." Natsu jumped at Erza's voice not realizing the others had followed him.

"What are we doing in here E.N.D? Lets just go home already." Gray said exasperated.

"I smell someone I know… I just cant figure out who…"

Natsu continued to wander the room trying to find… He wasn't sure what but he was determined none the less. While he did that, the others looked around the room curiously. Lucy was checking out the desk when she made a curious sounding noise.

"Hey guys any idea what these are?" She held up a bunch of papers with very detailed magick circles on them.

Erza quickly snatched them from her and looked them over before going pale.

"T-These are… Summoning circles!"

Natsu stopped and turned to look at the red head disbelievingly.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

Erza handed him the papers. He took his time examining each one.

"This would summon Mira, this… any Etherious, Cobra… Who'd want him? This last one I'm not sure. I've never seen it before."

Gray took one look at the last one and went so white you could mistake him for a snow figure.

"This one summons me…" he said barely getting the words out.

"You? Why would you have a summon circle? You're not a demon." Natsu asked.

"But I am a Devil Slayer, I have demon blood running through my veins giving me the power. It's the same as being one."

"Who they summon doesn't matter. What I want to know is how they got their hands on these. Humans wouldn't be able to find these easily unless someone from our realm gave them to them. Even for us these are rarely known by anyone other than the demon they are for." Erza said, looking like she was barely containing her anger.

Natsu gulped at the dark aura surrounding the Valkyrie. Man Erza could be scary when she wanted!

"So these designs are how they were able to send Natsu here?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah basically. Combine these drawings with the right kind of ritual and you can summon just about anyone. Although with ash for brains over there being the most popular demon his circle tends to be the one everyone is able to get their hands on." Gray answered sending Natsu a snarky look.

Natsu just rolled his eyes. Sure he got summoned a lot but that didn't mean it was easy to get or anything, people were just persistent sometimes… Lucy shivered and Natsu caught the motion out of the corner of his eye. Frowning he turned to her.

"You alright Luce?"

"Yeah… Just felt a cold breeze."

Natsu quirked an eyebrow at her. There were no windows of any kind in here, plus she wasn't even standing near freezer burn, so there shouldn't be a reason she was feeling a breeze. Unless… Natsu walked over to her and started feeling around the area.

"Huh, there is a breeze."

"So? Shouldn't we be focusing on the issue of the drawings here?" Gray said a bit annoyed at the change of topic.

Erza was about to comment when Natsu punched in the wall.

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled ducking out of the way of any flying debris.

As the wall crumbled away, everyone could clearly hear whimpering coming from the other side of the hole. Natsu lit up his hand so they could see into the dark space. At first glance the room looked to be a hideaway for raids but as the far corner lit up they all let out a collective gasp at what they saw. A young woman with eggplant colored hair and green reptilian eyes was chained to the wall. She was in nothing but old looking rags that barely covered her properly and any exposed flesh was covered in wounds of all types.

The scent Natsu had been smelling grew over whelming and he was shocked to find it was coming from her. He didn't recognize her at all! How the heck did he know her scent then? Natsu tried approaching the girl to help, but stopped when she hissed at him. He took a step back and held up his hands to try and show he wasn't a threat. She stopped hissing but didn't seem to relax.

"Holy crap, is she a Naga?" Gray whisper shouted in surprise.

"I think so…" Erza commented.

"Naga… That sounds familiar. Aren't they divine snakes?" Natsu asked.

Gray nodded. "Yeah they normally either guard treasures or the temples of the Gods."

Recognition hit Natsu like a ton of bricks and he felt like an idiot for not realizing it sooner! He did know this snake girl, but last time he saw her she was stuck in her snake form!

"Y-your Cobra's snake friend aren't you?" he said barely above a whisper but she seemed to hear him.

"W-where is he…?" She asked. From the sound of her voice she hadn't used it in quite a while. "Where's my Erik?"

"We can take you to him, but you gotta let us help you okay?"

She seem to mull this over for a bit. Natsu could see her struggling to want to believe him.

"Look we will take you to him, I swear on my name: Etherious Natsu Dragneel and if I'm lying my I be turned into a Spriggan and rot in a crystal coffin for all eternity."

The snake girl looked up at him wide eyed and Natsu could hear Erza and Gray gasping behind him. Vowing ones name on the promise of being a Spriggan was something that was not taken lightly. If that kind of a vow was broken it would undoubtedly turn the person who swore their name into a Spriggan. But it did have the desired result. Any doubt she may have had before was gone and she nodded in acceptance.

Natsu looked to Gray who quickly moved to her side to freeze the shackles holding her until they were brittle enough to crumble. She rubbed her swore wrists looking relieved to finally be free. Gray helped her stand and ended up supporting most of her weight. It was easy to tell she wasn't used to walking anymore. With how long she'd been missing, Natsu hoped she hadn't been chained up here the whole time. He had a feeling however that she had been.

Slowly they all made their way back outside the church. Natsu folded up the circle drawings and stuffed them into his belt so he wouldn't lose them. Once outside, Natsu found a decently open area and summoned up his magick. Using it he formed a large wall of fire that opened up into a doorway that viewed the empty training room back in the castle.

"Alright guys, hurry through!"

Gray helped the weak snake girl through the portal. They were followed by Erza who had a good grip on Lucy's hand to help her through. Lastly Natsu went through and quickly shut the portal behind him.

"Cobra should be with the others in the viewing room." Gray said already heading that way.

Natsu could hear rushed footsteps coming from the hallway. He smirked knowing who it was. Soon as they turned the corner, they saw Cobra running full speed towards them.

Gasping the snake girl pushed her way out of Grays arms and hurried into Cobra's. She instantly began to weep and if Natsu didn't know any better he'd swear Cobra was as well.

"Erik I missed you so much!" the weeping girl cried with her face buried in his chest. The happiness in her voice made everyone watching smile.

"I know I missed you too Kinana."

There was a collective gasp and Natsu noticed more gawkers had joined in the hallway. Levy in particular looked the most shocked to hear the snake girls true name.

"Kinana… The Naga that used to watch over the temple of the Goddess of Knowledge?" Levy asked.

Cobra nodded for her.

"But you supposedly went missing two centuries ago!"

"Technically two centuries ago was when she was cursed to be stuck in her snake form. We never figured out who did it though…" Cobra explained.

"And I wasn't alone in watching over the temple, Erik was with me. When I became cursed we searched through the temples records endlessly but couldn't figure out a way to break the curse, so we left to see if we couldn't find an answer else where. That's how we ended up in Oracion Seis together…" Kinana explained still clinging to Cobra.

"How did it break anyway?" Cobra asked. She shrugged.

"The minute I ended up in the human realm I changed back. However it happened near that church and…"

"Those religious bastards locked you up because they feared you didn't they?" Cobra stated bitterly. She just nodded again.

"They said if I gave them more information on our realm they wouldn't hurt me…They lied of course…"

Natsu blinked suddenly remembering the papers still tucked into his belt. He grabbed them and held them up.

"So were you the one who drew these then?"

"Yes…"

"But how did you know mine? I barely just figured it out myself!" Gray asked.

"We were the guardians of the Goddess of Knowledge's' temple. We learned of many things while there. I mostly just used the ones I remembered and drew Erik's as well in the hopes that they would summon him and he could help me." She finally dislodged herself from Cobra and smiled at the group who had brought her back.

"It all worked out the same regardless, thank you all for bringing me back to him."

They all gave her smiles in return, but what happened next shocked everyone. Cobra walked over to Natsu and held out his hand. At first Natsu was confused then his eyes widened as he realized what Cobra was doing.

"You smelled her scent and found her…Thank you for bringing her home."

Natsu grinned and took his offered hand. They shook and exchanged smiles. Natsu was feeling pretty good about himself at that moment; That is until Gajeel ruined it by opening his big mouth.

"Gihi, looks like I won the bet! Salamander brought somebody home again!"

There was a collective groan and people started digging in their pockets for money. Natsu was speechless. They really bet on what he'd do?! The bastards! Gajeel grinned as he started counting his winnings when Jellal spoke up.

"Actually Gajeel, you bet that he would bring somebody back, I bet he'd bring back an important person. I don't know about you but I'd say a temple guardian is a pretty important person."

There was silence for a split second as everyone registered his words before everyone burst out laughing and Gajeel just stood there stuttering. Jellal chuckled and held out his hand for the money. Gajeel ruefully handed it over. Natsu still couldn't believe what was going on!

"Seriously Jellal!?" He yelled embarrassed.

Jellal just gave an impish smile that made Erza blush a bit.

"Sorry E.N.D, you can be just too predictable sometimes. I couldn't just not take advantage of that."

"Grrr…. That's it Jellal fight me!"


	20. Chapter 20

**This chapter and the next are gonna be shorter just cause it was taking too long to write one long chapter.**

* * *

A week went by with very little excitement after everything that happened in the human realm. Natsu kept missing chances to talk to Lucy about what had happened. If they weren't surrounded by people who would question their disappearing for a short while, then Jellal was hogging her and Yukino for night training that usually lasted so late Lucy instantly passed out once she made it to bed. Natsu and Sting had tried asking to watch the girls train many times, but Jellal refused any onlookers. Natsu had even tried spying on them once, but Jellal knew he was there and zapped him with a spell to get him to go away.

So needless to say he was a bit annoyed at his current situation. He tried to distract himself as best he could, but there was only so many fights he could get into before he grew bored. After all Gray had left a few days before and Cobra had locked himself and Kinana in his room the whole week doing…Natsu didn't think he wanted to know what. He was glad the two had been reunited, but if they were going to be lovey dovey all the time now they could find their own castle to do that stuff in! Sure Natsu was thinking of doing much the same with Lucy but that's different this was Natsu's castle anyway. He could do that stuff…

"Better pay attention E.N.D-san or you're gonna lose this one!"

Stings voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he came back to reality and the arm wrestling match he was currently having with the younger dragon. He growled and refocused his attention on the match. Sting grunted as Natsu added more force and he almost lost his hold. It looked like Natsu was going to win until a peculiar sound hit his ears. Jellal and the girls came into the training room, the girls talking excitedly. Natsu lost his focus and Sting took the opportunity to win the match. Natsu cursed but brushed off the loss. The girls seemed excited over what they were talking about so that held his attention more. Sting stopped gloating long enough to see what was going on.

"Hey whats going on you guys, you're usually outside longer than this."

"There is no longer a need for that." Jellal said with a proud glance at the girls, this confused all the dragons in the room.

"Yukino and Lucy have completed their training. I've taught them all the do's and don't's of being a Star Child." He explained.

Natsu smiled. He'd finally have Luce all to himself again! Sting looked equally enthused about the news. He walked over and wrapped an arm around each woman's shoulders and grinned.

"That's awesome! Now we can put my celebration plan into action!"

"Celebration plan?" Everyone but Rouge, Lector,and Froche repeated in confusion.

"That's really not necessary Sting-sama…" Yukino mumbled with a blush.

"Of course it is! Besides I talked it over with M'lady and she gave the okay to use a little of Sabertooth's money to buy four tickets to Akane Resort!"

Yukino gasped and hugged Sting. Rouge rolled his eyes at the two.

"More like he begged and complained at M'lady long enough that she finally gave in and said yes."

Sting shot a glare at Rouge, who didn't seem fazed at all by it.

"A resort huh? I haven't been to one since I was little. Are they the same here as in the human realm?" Lucy asked.

"Probably better. Akane is untouched by the war and a super expensive get away for anyone sick of all the constant fighting. The only use magick has there is to make all the games and rides more fun." Natsu explained.

"Wow that sounds exciting!"

Sting handed a ticket to each girl and tried handing one to Jellal, but he simply held up his hand and shook his head.

"Thank you but I'll have to decline."

Both girls frown at him. "How come Jellal?" Lucy asks.

"With all do respect, I've been away from my guild long enough. I need to get back to them."

Both girls didn't look thrilled but nodded in understanding. They hugged him in unison, and the look on Jellal's face made everyone laugh. Clearly the fallen star child was not used to acts of affection. He hesitantly patted each of their backs and they let go. Sting sighed but quickly recovered and held up a ticket.

"Alright, we got an open spot, who wants it?"

"Fix 'ur math kid, you have two tickets left." Gajeel snickered.

Sting flipped Gajeel off before pulling the final ticket from his pocket.

"Of course I'm going. I paid for the damn things after all!"

Everyone just rolled their eyes at him. Natsu walked over to Sting and snatched the extra ticket.

"Well I guess that means you're going huh?" Sting says sarcastically.

"You kiddin'? I haven't been to the resort since-…" Natsu shut up and looked at Jellal.

"I-in a long time. Besides-!" He wrapped an arm around Lucy's shoulders. "If Luce is going, I'm definitely going!"

It was not lost on any of the dragons in the room that Lucy's heart rate increased at Natsu's words. Some try hard not to show the smirks forming on their faces, others straight up grinned at the girl. Natsu felt a bit of pride at knowing he caused the reaction in her.

"Alright now that its been settled, go get ready!" Sting said and hurried Yukino down the hall.

Lucy smiled at the two, but soon found herself in a similar situation being dragged by Natsu. The others left behind all laughed at their friends antics.

"Who'd of thunk it, the two most immature dragons in this castle are falling all over themselves for a couple of girls." Gajeel said followed by a 'Gihi'.

"Lisanna aint gonna be too thrilled about this predicament." Laxus said.

"Poor Lisanna-san…" Wendy mumbled.

"Don't worry kid, I know a certain raijinshu member who'd be willing to take his place." Laxus said grining.

This made Wendy perk up. Laxus patted the young dragon on the head and she giggled.

"All these new people keep showing up and acting lovey with each other. This place is starting to seem less like a fortress." Rouge said from his shadowy corner.

Gajeel chuckled.

"Whats the matter? All the love making you uncomfortable?"

Rouge just sighed.

"No I just think its unwise. The reason we all came here was so we could be at the center of all the territories. This was meant to be a battle ready site." Rouge explained.

This made everyone frown. That was true in many ways. E.N.D had offered up the castle his dragon Igneel had left him as a base of operations for the other dragons. Being at the center of all the territories effected by the war it was the perfect place for them to set up a main base. A rule was even made that if they wanted to be around friends or loved ones they'd retreat to their individual guilds. Only the Dragons were supposed to be aloud in the castle. Of course as time went on they let that rule slip somewhat. But lovers were different than friends. They could be more distracting and could cause a great deal more trouble. That was the reason Mira hadn't been aloud to stay with Laxus.

"Blonde and Saber's girl both have unique magick that can easily be tracked. They need to be under the barrier. In fact this little trip is a bad idea because of that fact. Cobra's girl…well I doubt he'll be letting her out of his sights anytime soon…" Laxus reasoned.

"Its still a bad idea." Rouge mumbled but everyone heard.

They gave a collective sigh as they thought about their situation. All they could hope for was that during their trip the four love sick dolts wouldn't find trouble…


	21. Chapter 21

**I'm so sorry for the long wait for this chapter! I hit some serious writers block with this story and couldn't get myself out of it, but hopefully that's all done with and Ill be able to finish this up. Anyway enjoy!**

* * *

Lucy had to suppress a chuckle as she watched Natsu and Sting wallow in misery. Happy had explained the reason most of the dragons had familiars because of an inability to ride on any other form of transportation. He never told her why, but now she understood. The first ten minutes of their ride; the girls had spent it trying to help the motion sick dragons, but ultimately gave up as it was futile. Actually she found the whole thing quite amusing.

With the guys occupied with their sickness and Yukino still attempting to help Sting, Lucy took a few quiet moments to think about the world she was in. It was absolutely beautiful here. Just leaving the barrier around the dragons castle was an amazing sight in its own. She still couldn't get over the way it looked when one of the dragons parted it. The shimmering ripples of magick made the world look like an underwater scene.

After leave the barrier the guys had insisted it'd be both easier and quicker for the girls to ride on their backs. Lucy was a bit embarrassed about it but not nearly as much as Yukino. Lucy had been carried by Natsu before so it wasn't as big a deal for her, but Yukino went every shade of red and continued to refuse until Sting managed to convince her (in a very suggestive manner in Lucy's opinion). So beat red and shyly Yukino crawled on his back and they were off. Natsu and Sting were running at in human speeds and had the girls squealing in fright at first, then laughing right along with them as it turned into a race to see who could reach the train station first.

Sting and Yukino ended up winning thanks to Lucy. At the last minute the guys had jumped off a large cliff and Lucy had freaked out and may have sort of put Natsu into a choke hold on the way down. He wasn't too happy with her over that. The train station turned out to be just a transfer station in the middle of the country side. It had a ticket booth, snack booth, and waiting area, other than that there was nothing for miles. Lucy smiled remembering what she had thought while they waited for their train.

Yukino noticed and smiled at her.

"What are you thinking about Lucy-sama?"

"Just thinking...Even though the human and magick realms are separated and have many differences, they still have plenty in common. It makes me feel better about choosing to stay here."

Natsu, who'd been resting his head in the blondes lap, peeked an eye open and smiled. It was a big worry of his that she'd miss home so much and want to go back. Of course she had nothing to go back to and that normally reassured him but the worry still nagged at the back of his mind. So hearing her say something like that was a huge weight off his mind. For the rest of the train ride he listened to the girls prattle on about similarities and differences in both realms. It was boring but the soothing sound of Lucy's voice helped keep his mind off the unease in his stomach. Man when Igneel told him this was a side effect of gaining his dragon magick he thought the dragon had merely been joking! Nope. It was real, and it sucked like hell!

Eventually they reached the station at Akane and the second the train doors opened up Sting and Natsu were off the blasted thing in a flash. The girls laughed at their antics. As they headed away from the train station and into the fresh air of the town, Lucy could smell the scent of the ocean growing stronger and stronger. The distinct smell of water and salt was both soothing and exciting all at the same time. Her family had visited the ocean before when she was still a child before her mother had passed away. She remembered having a blast up until a huge wave caught her and dragged her out to deeper water. Her father managed to grab her in time but he'd been so furious they left right after he'd made sure she was okay. They never went back after that.

Looking around the street they were walking down, Lucy noticed with some surprise, That most every thing looked normal to her. Granted every now and then someone would use magick or a random creature would walk by and say hello to her, but over all it was not at all what she expected. Actually it looked a lot like the human realm! She also noticed many booths, decorations, and people in costumes.

"Hey Natsu, is there a festival going on or something?" Lucy asked and he laughed.

"Nah! Its always like this here."

"Akane is the place people come to forget about the craziness going on in the rest of the realm, no naturally it always one big party here!" Sting explained enthusiastically.

"Once we get settled at the resort we could come back into town and check out the booths if you like. " Yukino offered.

Lucy nodded excitedly. They made their way through town and up to the famous resort. Quickly checking in and heading up to their two room suite, the girls unpacked their bags quickly. Lucy found herself constantly drawn to the balcony connecting the two room and the main room together. It had the most perfect view of the oceans horizon. the sea seemed to go on forever and ever...

She was once again out on the balcony gazing at the sea when there was a knock on there door.

"Come on you two! We're heading for the beach!" Stings voice caries through the thick wood door.

The girls just rolled their eyes and giggled.

"Alright give a second to change." Lucy responded.

They quickly got changed and Lucy had to blush at the revealing swimsuit Mira had lent her a while back for"just in case" emergencies. The swimwear in this realm was much more revealing than in the human realm. Then again she could say that about most of the clothing here. The suit she wore was a pink two piece with yellow stars shrewn about it. Yukino's was a simple sea foam colored two piece with a ruffled neck line.

"That swimsuit looks wonderful on you Lucy-sama!" Yukino gushed. Lucy blushed and looked down at herself blushing more.

"Its a bit more...revealing than I'm used to, but thanks for the compliment."

They grabbed the rest of their beach stuff and met the guys in the hallway. Natsu and Sting had been leaning against the wall talking while they waited for the girls. When they finally came out, both boys did a double take. It was not lost on either Dragon why the other was there, and in that moment, they silently agreed on two things: they were going to show these two the weekend of their lives, and there was no way the girls were sharing a room tonight, at least not with each other...

 **X**

Lucy had never had so much fun in her life! They spent most of the day at the beach laughing and acting like goofy teens. They played volleyball, buried Sting up to his head in sand, Saved him from drowning while buried, and tossed each other in the surf. At one point Natsu had even convinced Lucy magickal parasailing would be a blast (which it was), but the second it took off he turned into a sickly mess. She couldn't help but laugh, he could be so impulsive at times. When the sun started to set they headed back to their room to clean up and change before heading back into town to check out all the stalls and street performances.

Natsu and Lucy ended up getting separated from Sting and Yukino but didn't worry much. They could always meet back at the room. So the two took their time enjoying each others company. Natsu wouldn't stop making Lucy laugh all night and he enjoyed every minute of her laughter. The sweet sound was like wind chimes and made him feel so at peace. It was hysterical to watch her play some of the magick games, she reminded him of a little kid at their first street fair. At one point Natsu had to catch himself from leaning in a kissing her. She'd leapt into his arms, thrilled about winning one of the games. If it weren't for the fact that he still wanted to talk to her about the last time, he would have done it. He was still so confused about the whole thing. He was fairly certain she felt the same about that he did her, but there was always that little bit of doubt that said she wouldn't love a demon like him.

He knew he was being stupid but he still stepped away from her and gave her his toothy grin instead of pulling her close and kissing her. Frankly from Lucy's point of view he was giving off mixed signals and she was quickly growing tired of it. It was growing later in the night and Lucy was starting to feel the exhaustion from all of the days events hit her.

"Hey Natsu can we head back? I'm starting to get tired."

"Sure thing Luce."

Natsu wrapped an arm around her shoulders and lead her back to the resort. She was quiet the whole way and Natsu started to worry that it wasn't just from her being tired. Soon as they got back she said a quick goodnight and hurried into her room. Natsu frowned. Had he done something wrong? Feeling conflicted Natsu waited about five minutes before he knocked on her door. Slowly she opened it up and peeked out. She'd changed into a nightgown and brushed out her hair. The sight made Natsu's breath catch in his throat.

"Yes Natsu?"

"U-uh..Um, I was just wondering if...If maybe I made you mad or something. You kinda got closed off as we were heading back here."

Lucy blinked at him confused then blushed and shook her head.

"No, no! I'm sorry if it came across that way. I was just really tired and wanted to relax that's all."

Natsu breathed a sigh of relief. Scratching the back of his head he let out an embarrassed laugh.

"That's a relief, I'd hate to upset ya Luce. "

That made Lucy blush even more. She gave him a sweet smile and opened the door more.

"I was just gonna read for a while, wanna come in? I can read to you."

Natsu smiled and nodded his head.

"Let me go change real quick, then you can read whatever to me!"

He hurried over to his and Stings room and threw on a pair of flame print shorts and a green tee, before hurrying back to Lucy's room and flopping on her bed. Lucy laughed at his antics and sat down next to him. Natsu rested his head on her lap much like when they were on the train, and Lucy grabbed the book she was currently reading. It was a romance about a prince who fell in love with a dragon who liked to pretend to be a human. Natsu chuckled at her choice in reading material, but otherwise kept quiet and listened to the sound of her voice as she read.

After a few chapters Lucy looked down to see if Natsu was still awake, knowing he'd lose interest eventually. Sure enough his eyes were closed and his breathing was even. Smiling to herself, she put the book down and gently brushed his bangs out of his face. Natsu looked so peaceful when he was asleep. Sighing a bit, she leaned forward and rested her forehead on his. Why did he have to be such a confusing idiot? So many times since that first time in the castle yard had she wanted to kiss him, and from what she could tell he wanted it too, but he was always the one to pull back. It was getting infuriating!

"Why wont you just kiss me you idiot..."

As she pulled away Natsu's eyes shot open and she froze _. He was awake the whole time!?_ His face was serious for a moment before breaking into that big toothy grin of his.

"Was just waiting for you to give me permission Luce!"

"Wha-?!"

She was cut off by Natsu pulling her down for a mind blowing kiss. She swore she could feel his heat radiating from there joined lips all the way to her core. She nearly melted into him, kissing back with all the pent up feelings she had. When they finally broke apart they were both breathing heavy and blushing madly. After catching his breath Natsu smiled again.

"So worth the wait!"

Lucy just rolled her eyes at the big idiot, but she did have to agree. Leaning down they kissed again, this time less rushed and more gently. Lucy could definitely get used to this...


	22. Chapter 22

Deep in Dark guild territory, the Etherious were plotting away in their guild, Tartaros. Kyoka was still amused with how she and Seilah had forced their former master to mortally wound one of his new "allies". The fact of it being that wretch Erza made it all the better.

Kyoka rubbed Seilahs' leg affectionately as she listened to Mard Geer give out instructions for the net part of their plans. The lovely horned demoness smiled back at her. What they had wasn't love. Demons didn't feel 'love', but it was possibly as close as they could get. Kyoka honestly didn't think she would have lasted all these centuries with out Seilah by her side...

Mard Geer finished his instructions and dismissed the Demon Gates. Seilah was particularly thrilled about her part to play in their plans.

"This will truly make a beautifully tragic story indeed."

"And our dear former master shall make a wonderful subject to watch destroy himself." Kyoka smiled wickedly.

 **X**

It didn't take long for the innocent and curious kisses to turn fiery. Neither one of them could get enough and Natsu was quickly starting to realize why Lucy was so easily able to light a fire within him. Demons may not be able to fall in love, but dragons could. Dragons took a single mate and loved them for the rest of their lives. Natsu's Dragon half was crying out to claim its mate. The demon half, well... Lets just say it wanted the same only for less honorable reasons.

Regardless Natsu's entire being was screaming one word:

MINE!

So with a feral growl Natsu pounced and knocked Lucy backwards onto the bed. Besides a startled yelp, Lucy showed no signs of pushing him away. In fact she spread her legs enough to accommodate Natsu and tangled her hands in his hair, tugging him down for another hot kiss. And as the passionate kisses continued, clothes began to be removed. Soon the two were left in nothing but their underwear. Lucy felt as though she should shy away from Natsu but the heated looks he kept giving her gave her a sense of pride in herself, giving way to a whole new level of self confidence. She had always known she was a good looking young woman, but the way Natsu was looking at her, as if she were some sort of celestial goddess, she never felt more beautiful.

Every teasing touch, passionate kiss, and gentle caress was like a prayer of devotion and Lucy just couldn't get enough. Then Natsu started to move down her body and she had to hold in a gasp of pleasure. He toyed with each of her breasts until her nipples were hard and flushed pink. Lucy thought nothing could feel better than what he'd just done,she was so very wrong.

With a simple flick of his wrist, he used his claw to cut the fabric of her underwear. Tossing them aside, he left her completely bare to him. Again, Lucy would have been embarrassed if it weren't for the look Natsu was giving her. He looked mesmerized, and for a while all he did was stare at her. She was just starting to get nervous when he finally snapped out of it. He took her hand, brought it up to his face, and kissed her palm.

"You look so beautiful Luce..." She blushed at that.

With a quick squeeze, he let go of her hand and gently spread her legs farther apart. Lucy honestly didn't know what to expect, but when Natsu leaned in and slowly licked her core, she completely fell apart. Crying out she grabbed at the sheets, his hair, anything she could to keep herself grounded, but it was no use. Natsu slowly continued to eat her out, building her up until she was at her bursting point. It wasn't long before she fell over the edge, the sounds she made as she came making Natsu smirk.

Lucy was still recovering when Natsu crawled back up and kissed her.

"You still with me Luce?"

"S-shut up jerk."

She tried to sound annoyed but she was still feeling too good to put up much of a front. This made Natsu chuckle and nuzzle her neck. He wanted to continue but Lucy looked like she still needed a minute, problem was he _really_ wanted to continue. Being so surrounded by this woman was doing things to him that was getting harder and harder to keep at bay.

"N-Natsu?"

"Yeah?"

When she didn't continue he looked up at her with a concerned expression. She was blushing fiercely and refused to look him in the eye. Slight panic began to fill him.

"A-are we...Are we going to continue?"

Natsu just blinked at her a couple times before laughing.

"W-what!?" Lucy said defensively.

Natsu kissed her sweetly on the nose before explaining:

"You're just such an adorable weirdo that's all!"

Lucy was about to protest when Natsu's face quickly turned serious.

"I do want to continue Luce, but there's just one thing i need you to know before we do."

Lucy looked up at him confused but completely trusting and innocent looking. Natsu had to force himself not to kiss her again, because he had to get this next part out. Lucy deserved to know what she was getting into.

"I'm a demon Luce."

Lucy just rolled her eyes. "Yeah I know that already Natsu."

"Yeah but as a demon, I'm not capable of love. I am capable of greed though..."

"But aren't you also part dragon?" She asked not sounding concerned at all.

" Yeah i am, another creature capable of great greed. What I'm trying to say is... if we do this...you'll have to become my mate. Cuz' there ain't no way a creature as greedy and selfish as me would ever be able to give you up after this."

Lucy was quiet for a while and Natsu was so worried about how she'd respond that he couldn't look at her. So when she finally did respond Natsu's heart was racing a mile a minute with anticipation.

"Very well."

Natsu froze. Did he hear her right?

"Natsu, I haven't known you for very long, but I've never been this happy with someone before. You're so much fun to be around, you've done nothing but care for me since we met, I honestly couldn't imagine myself being with anyone else for the rest of my life. Now wipe that idiotic look off your face and make me yours, my silly dragon demon."

Complete joy swelled inside of Natsu. He attacked Lucy with a fierce kiss that took her breath away. With no more hesitation he removed his boxers and positioned himself at her entrance. With one last kiss for reassurance, he penetrated her. They both groaned from the contact, but Natsu could tell Lucy's was more from discomfort. After a moment of adjustment, however, she gave a test move of her hips. Natsu had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from letting lose. He wanted to give Lucy time to get used to it, but man was it driving him crazy to do so. He was just about to lose his mind when Lucy said the magic words.

"Nm..Natsu, g-go faster."

With permission granted he did just that, causing her to let out a gasp that ended on a moan. Natsu continued to pick up in speed until he had her a moaning, panting mess. She clawed at his back and wrapped her legs around him urging him to go deeper and he complied. Natsu could feel himself getting close to his end. He didn't want to come before she did, luckily he knew what to do. Mostly driven by instinct he let his fangs extend a bit and used his magick to heat them up. With his next thrust he sank his teeth into the curve of her neck where it met shoulder and clamped down.

She let out a pleasured cry and he felt her inner walls clench. As she rode out her climax, Natsu continued to pump into her. It didn't take him long after to reach his climax and he took no shame in unloading himself inside her. finally pulling out of her, Natsu flopped beside Lucy and pulled her close. She instantly snuggled into him and sighed contently.

"I love you Luce..."

"I love you too Natsu."

Natsu kissed the mark he left on her neck and she shivered in response.

"What did you do? My neck feels all tingly."

"I made you my mate, that's all. Now go to sleep, we still got a lot of fun to have tomorrow."

"Alright..."

With that she fell into a deep sleep and Natsu couldn't help but feel completely at peace...


	23. Chapter 23

Natsu couldn't sleep. You'd think after the night he'd just had with Lucy he'd be out like a light. Nope. Lucy had passed out a while ago, happily curled up and snuggled into his side. He'd enjoyed just holding her and watching her sleep, but now he was bored. Plus his arm was starting to fall asleep.

Maneuvering carefully, he crawled out of be with out disturbing Lucy. He tossed his shorts back on and tiptoed out of the room. Heading to the mini kitchen he grabbed a glass of water and chugged it before turning to the balcony. He was surprised to see Sting hanging out there. Walking outside he patted Sting on the shoulder.

"Hey man, can't sleep?" He asked.

"Not really... You too?" Natsu shook his head no.

Sting suddenly got the biggest shit eating grin on his face and Natsu new what was coming next.

"Well from the smell of ya, you'd think you'd be sound asleep. Finally dragoned up and took Lucy as your mate?

Natsu glared at him before adopting his own grin.

"Yeah I did, but from the smell of you, I'd say you didn't take Yukino."

That made Sting go bright red before looking away. Natsu instantly felt bad for making the remark.

"Shes..real shy ya know? And besides being a Star Child, she was always sheltered and stuff. I don't wanna rush her or scare her..."

Natsu had to smile at that. He gave Sting a punch on the arm. Sting yelped and glared at him.

"Don't worry so much Sting. That girl likes ya. I can practically see it oozing off of her."

That made Sting blush more.

"Since when are you Mr. Dating Advice?" Sting asked slightly annoyed.

Natsu just shrugged and grinned at him. They fell into a comfortable silence for a while and Natsu was just about to head back to the room when Sting spoke again.

"Hey E.N.D? Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

Sting looked hesitant and Natsu lost his grin.

"Why do you still go by that name? You're so dead set on proving to people you've changed, but you still insist on being called by your Etherious name."

Natsu was caught off guard by that. It was a question Wendy and Lisanna had asked him many times. He never had an answer for them. When he first met Lucy he'd told her to call him Natsu with out hesitation, where as the other two it took him time to allow the use of his real name. Why did he still use it? It used to be used as a means of extracting fear from people. Now... he had no clue. Sting was still waiting patiently for his reply, and Natsu finally came to a decision.

"Know what...Screw my Etherious name! Call me Natsu from now on!"

Sting grinned and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Nice to meet you Natsu."

The two Dragon demons grinned at each other before letting out equally big yawns.

"Welp, guess it time for bed." Sting mused Natsu nodded in response.

"We taking the girls to the casino tomorrow?" Natsu asked.

"Only if you promise not to wreck any of the game machines. Gray told me about the last time you were here."

Natsu had to sweat drop at that. Waving goodnight, Natsu headed back to the room and curled up next to Lucy. She sighed happily in her sleep when he wrapped his arms around her. He smiled and kissed the top of her head before finally drifting off to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Lucy woke up feeling warm and pleasantly sore. Natsu was out cold, snoring up a storm. She smiled to herself and laid snuggled up next to him for a few more minutes before crawling out of bed. Tossing on some comfy day clothes, she quietly left the room. With every intention of scarfing down some breakfast, Lucy headed to the kitchen area, when she noticed Yukino already awake and on the couch sipping some coffee.

"Morning Yukino!"

"Morning Lucy-sama. Did you sleep well?"

Flashes of the night before ran through her head and she had to hurry to the kitchen to hide her red face.

"U-um yeah I slept great."

"That's good."

"Oh and sorry about Natsu sleeping in our room last night. I was reading to him last night and he kinda fell asleep..."

Yukino blushed a bit and looked to the guys's room.

"That's alright...I sort of... had a similar situation with Sting last night..."

Lucy's gossip radar was going off now and she immediately stopped what she was doing to look at her fellow Star Child.

"Oh? Do tell!"

Yukino blushed more and was suddenly very interested in her cup of coffee. Lucy abandoned the breakfast she was making and plopped down on the couch opposite Yukino.

"C'mon Yu! Spill!"

"W-well... last night when we got back, Sting-sama said he heard that E.N.D-sama was in the room with you."

Lucy blushed wondering how much he heard...

"He then suggested we hang out in his and E.N.D-sama's room..."

"Aannnddd...?" Lucy prompted.

"We talked for what felt like hours, He's really pleasant to talk to, then...When we realized it was getting really late he offered to let me sleep in the room with him. Oh Lucy-sama I was so nervous! I didn't know what his intentions were and I was trying not to read too much into it, but I couldn't help my mind from going...places. I'm sure I turned bright red too!"

Lucy had to hold in a laugh. Who'd of thought Yukino would be this innocent? Or maybe it was that Lucy was more mature minded than she liked to admit. Years of reading smutty romance novels had to of corrupted her on some level. Yukino continued her story completely red faced.

"Just when I was about to panic the most...H-He kissed my fore head and told me not to worry. He'd never do something I wasn't comfortable with and that he'd sleep on the couch out here if that made me more comfortable. I-i don't remember what i said but he got the cutest little boy grin on his face and we ended up...Cuddling until i fell asleep..."

Yukino finished in a rush and ended up covering her beat red face with her hands. Lucy couldn't help but feel a rush of joy for her friend. Sure they may not have gone as far as her and Natsu had, but it was still a huge step.

"That's wonderful Yu! I'm so glad for you!" Lucy smiled at her friend and flipped her hair over her shoulder to keep it out of her face.

Yukino looked up to say something but whatever it was died on her lips when she saw Lucy's shoulder. Her eyes went wide and she gasped.

"What happened to your shoulder?!" She asked in a worried tone.

Lucy blinked, confused by Yukino's shock. Glancing quickly at her shoulder, she too gasped. On her shoulder were a steady progression of Flame like marks circling the teeth marks from where Natsu had bit her last night. Hesitantly she ran a finger over one of the flame marks. They were beautiful markings, like a tattoo of sorts, and if it weren't for their unexpected appearance she'd of loved them.

"What in the world?!"

"Whats with the yelling so early in the morn-"

Sting walked out of the guys' room sleepily, but the second he saw the marks on Lucy's shoulder he stopped and grinned.

"Huh. so that's what one looks like."

"One what? What is this?" Lucy asked, slightly panicked.

"A mating mark. Kinda a Dragons version of a wedding ring. None of us have really seen one before though since we're not mated. Each mark is unique to the dragon who makes it and as the years go by the marks grow down your arm and side. Since there a few beings who can live as long as a Dragon it also works as an age regulator, so it basically extends your life." Sting explained while he inspected the mark.

By this point things had obviously clicked into place for Yukino who was staring wide eyed at Lucy with a scandalized expression. Lucy could only blush in response, luckily Natsu had finally woken up and came waltzing out of the room in nothing but shorts and his scarf, sporting the worlds greatest bed head. Not even looking fully awake yet he walked over to Lucy, pulled her close, and kissed her deeply. Of course Lucy was completely embarrassed about the situation but that didn't stop her from kissing back. Sting rolled his eyes and covered Yukino's.

"Get a room you two..." The smile on Stings face took some of the bite out of his voice.

When Natsu pulled away he grinned and ducked his head down to nuzzle Lucy's new markings. The instant he made contact with the bite mark a shiver ran down her spine and she had to resist the urge to sigh in bliss.

"Morning Luce..."

"M-Morning Natsu..."

Natsu let her go and turned to grin at the other two.

"Morning guys!"

Again Sting rolled his eyes. He finally let Yukino see again, though she was still squeezing her eyes shut anyway.

"Morning Natsu, and nice hair. You look like someone took a balloon to it."

"Like yours is any better!"

Of course this started a fight between the two, and in between the arguing and embarrassment it took the girls time to realize what Sting had called him. Both girls looked at each other in confusion before turning on the guys.

"Wait a minute you two!" Lucy said as she and Yukino pulled the two apart.

"What did you just call E.N.D-sama?" Yukino asked.

Both guys looked at one another confused for a moment before things clicked.

"Oh yeah! I want more people to start calling me Natsu now! That includes you Yukino!" Natsu said cheerily.

Yukino looked shocked but smiled and nodded.

"Very well then, Natsu-sama."

That made Natsu smile.

"Now that, that's settled; lets go do something! C'mon people we're wasting daylight!" Natsu cheered throwing a fist in the air.

And with that they planned out their day and headed out...


	24. Chapter 24

**Sorry for the wait, my laptop has been acting up on me lately so it was hard to get this typed up.**

* * *

After spending most of the day at the beach again, and watching a very interesting moment where the boys were to busy arguing to notice a huge wave coming their way, they headed back to the hotel to clean up and head down to the casino. Natsu stuck as close to Lucy as possible the whole time, if Lucy were being honest with herself he'd done that a lot before but it was just more obvious now. He'd glare at any guy who looked at her too long, or heaven forbid they even try to talk to her! At first it was cute but soon grew irritating. So she had to put her possessive dragon in his place. He had made it incredibly difficult for her too, giving her the biggest puppy dog eyes while she scolded him.

She managed to get her point across and he made up for his childish behavior by letting her go off with Yukino to play some games. That unfortunately left Natsu alone since Sting was engrossed in a poker match at the time. Not that Natsu minded being alone... Okay he kinda minded. Since leaving Tartaros he was never really alone. Either there was always someone watching him thinking he didn't know they were there, or he had friends surrounding him at all times. That was a huge reason he was so thrilled when he found Happy, having a familiar meant company at all times...unless he forgot to bring his little blue buddy with him...

He mentally shook himself and focused on finding a game to distract him. He had to stop with the depressing mental stuff. Lucy would diffidently 'Lucy kick' him if she knew he was being all depressed and stuff for no reason. He chucked a bit to himself. It was funny how unladylike-like she could be despite how well off she'd been in the human realm. She reminded him of his old friend Anna. It was a bitter sweet thing really, because losing her had been so painful, yet seeing bits of her in Lucy made him smile. Funny how not thinking of her for so long had left any memory of what she looked like fuzzy. Honestly by this point all he remembered of her was her stardust smell and glowing smile.

He shrugged that thought off and found himself a game to play for a while. He managed to distract himself with it for an hour before he grew bored. With a big stretch he decided to check on Lucy. Maybe she wasn't upset with him anymore and they could play some games together, or sneak back up to the room for some different kinds of games. So with a mischievous smile on his face he set off to look for his mate. It took a while but he finally spotted Lucy by the bar. She was talking to some weird looking guy in a floral shirt worn over armor. Natsu tried to keep calm, remembering Lucy's lecture about letting her take care of creeps herself. He ws taking a deep breath when he saw said creep lean into Lucy's personal space, lips puckered. Needless to say he snapped and rushed over. Natsu had every intention of beating the living daylights out of the guy, that is, until he saw one of the funniest sights in the world and had to stop dead in his tracks to keep from busting out laughing.

Just before the creepers lips could make contact with Lucy's, she stepped back and delivered one of the deadliest Lucy Kicks he'd ever seen her do, promptly knock the poor fool flat on his ass on the floor.

"I said I was taken you jerk!" She yelled at him as he hit the ground.

Lucy looked furious and disgusted. Natsu couldn't keep it in any longer, he busted up laughing and walked the rest of the way to her side. She gave him a surprised look before he wrapped an arm around her waist. She instantly melted into him and sighed in relief at his presence.

"Having trouble with the creeps huh Luce?" Natsu said, nuzzling her hair.

"Hmph..."

Natsu laughed at her pouting and glared at the guy who was now starting to collect himself off the ground.

"Oh my dear Lulu-Chan why must you tease me-..." He stopped talking the second he saw Natsu.

He instantly went pale and hurried to his feet. It was clear this man knew who Natsu was, interesting seeing as how not many people actually knew what he looked like unless they'd met him, and Natsu did not recognize this man at all.

"Y-you! My dear Lulu-Chan is with you!?" He sputtered out.

Natsu gave him a hard stare, allowing his eyes to darken for a moment.

"Ya got a problem with my Luce being with me?" Natsu growled out.

The strange man quickly shook his head, grabbed his two drinks from the bar and hurried off to start flirting with another woman. Lucy sighed again and clung to Natsu for a moment longer.

"That jerk wouldn't take no for an answer..."

"See why you need me around now?"

That earned his a good smack on the head. He just laughed and rubbed the sore spot.

"I'm kidding, I know you can handle yourself. You 'Lucy Kicking' that guy was proof."

Lucy just rolled her eyes and gave him a smooch on the cheek.

"He seemed to know you, any clue who he was?" She asked.

Natsu just shrugged.

"No clue, maybe i fought him once or something... Did he say what his name was?"

"Dan."

"Hmmm... nope not ringing ny bells."

Lucy laughed. "Your memory is so horrible!"

"Heh heh, yeah..."

X

Natsu and Lucy found a few games to play together, Lucy found out just how competitive he could be. Natsu wasn't too fond of how consistently Lucy would win, when he asked if she were cheating she'd simply say:

"Well my parents always did call me Lucky Lucy." And she'd wink at him causing his heart to flutter erratically.

He also found out she wasn't above teasing him to get something she wanted. He refused to win her a prize, on the basis of she could easily win it for herself, so she pecked him on the cheek and batted her eyes at him.

"Please Natsu...It's more special when you get it for me..."

He was being played. He knew this with out a doubt, but the way she was gazing up at him and clinging to his arm so that her breasts pressed into him, was like a kick in the gut and he caved. With a pouting blush he nodded.

"Fine."

"Yay! Hee hee!"

Her simple joy brought a grin to his face.

"I'm fired up now!"

Lucy cheered him on as he played the silly game, he was one point away from winning. He pulled his arm back for the final toss when a loud crash was heard from the other side of the casino.

"What on earth was that?!" Lucy exclaimed.

Natsu was about to respond when a familiar scent hit his nose and a growl escaped his lips instead.

"Luce you got your keys on you right?" He asked urgently.

"Always." She said pulling said objects from her leg strap.

"Good 'cuz you're gonna need 'em."

With that he took off running towards the commotion, Lucy right on his heels.

"Any clue whats going on Natsu?" Lucy asked mid-run.

"Looks like one of my old guild mates came to have some fun at the resort..."

"Y-you mean an Etherious?" Lucy asked nervously.

"Yeah, but don't worry Luce, I wont let them hurt you."

Lucy could see the worry in his eyes but didn't comment on it, she just smiled and nodded. She had complete faith in her dragon demon. Even if he was worried he'd pull through somehow.


	25. Chapter 25

When Natsu and Lucy finally got to the source of all the commotion, Natsu had to hold in a curse. Jackal was hopping from place to place trapping people in his bubble like bombs. Natsu couldn't wrap his head around it. Mard Geer knew Jackal was no match for Natsu, so why would he send him of all people? There wasn't anything at Akane that was worth the Etherious's time, so Jackal had to be there for Natsu. It just didn't make any sense!

"Lucy stay back I got this."

"I wanna help!"

Looking quickly out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lucy watching a cackling Jackal looking very much pale and angry. Oh...That's right... Jackal was the one who attacked her and killed her dad. Natsu was going to pay him back for that finally dained to notice their presence and turned to them with a big shit eating grin on his face.

"Well well well, Master...Star Girl. Been a while hasn't it?" The level of sarcasm in his voice when he called Natsu master was enough to tick him off.

"Shut the hell up Jackal, nobody wants to hear your crap!"

Jackal lost his grin for a moment before it was back at full force.

"Careful E.N.D, tick me off too much and all these pathetic creatures will be seeing their stars soon." He gestured to all the people he'd trapped in his explosive bubbles.

Natsu counted all the people trapped. 10. Too many for him to get out in time. The only way to set them free was-

Jackal was suddenly hit from behind by a blast of pure light. The surprise causing him to lose focus and the bubbles to disappear.

"Nice one Sting!" Natsu yelled as Sting and Yukino ran passed a recovering Jackal.

"Lucy, Yukino make sure these people get out safe and then keep everyone else away. This is gonna get messy." Sting said starring down the now pissed off Etherious.

The girls got to work quickly and soon the guys were in the clear for a good fight.

"Remember not to touch him!" Natsu warned. Sting just rolled his eyes.

"I'm pretty sure i'm the one who should be reminding you of that Natsu."

Natsu laughed as he rushed Jackal and hit him square in the face. Jackal was tossed back at Sting who blasted him with light before they could touch. The marks of Jackal's curse began to glow around Natsu's fist signaling that it was about to blow, but before that could happen he shoved it into his mouth. He learned in his younger years that he could swallow Jackals explosions to lessen the damage done to his body. It wasn't a perfect defense but it was better than nothing and at least he could still hit the bastard.

Jackal tried to use his spiral explosion on Sting, but the blonde was quick and managed to doge easily. Natsu smirked. Jackal was easy enough to beat 1 on 1, but with Sting here they could take him out no problem. Honestly Natsu was surprised Jackal hadn't lost his head over being beaten yet,actually even though he was clearly losing he seemed to still be smirking...

"Oh Gods no..." Natsu swore under his breath as things finally fell into place for him.

He was just about to warn Sting of his suspicions when the familiar feeling of curse energy began to overwhelm him. His mouth wouldn't open and his body began to move on its own. Except nothing changed. He continued to fight alongside Sting as if nothing were up. Jackal, however, gave him a knowing smirk that made Natsu's blood boil.

They continued on until Jackal was defeated and starting to disintegrate. Of course he wasn't really dying. Etherious could be reborn over and over again. That's why the war was so difficult to win. They kept coming back to fight more. What Natsu found frustrating was the fact that Sting didn't find Jackal's lack of exploding body suspicious. Every time he died he'd use the last of his curse power to make his entire body explode. This time however there was none of that.

"Alright we beat him!" Sting cheered and held his hand up for a high five.

Instead of high five-ing him, Natsu sucker punched him in the gut.

"N-Natsu?!"

"My name is Etherious Natsu Dragneel, E.N.D to You." Natsu felt rather than heard himself say before he struck Sting in the back of the head effectively knocking him out.

Natsu struggled to regain control, but Seilahs curse was stronger than the time with Erza, and no matter how much he struggled he couldn't stop moving. For a while he couldn't tell where he was going. He foolishly thought he was just wandering around, but then a certain scent hit his nose and he began to panic.

X

Lucy and Yukino had managed to get the people who were trapped in the bubbles to safety. It hadn't been hard. Most were so terrified they blindly followed the girls out. All that was left was to convince some of the random guests who knew how to fight that the two dragon demons could handle everything on their own. Apparently men were boorish in any world (and species). Lucy could hear the continuous explosions still going off and she was starting to worry. Yukino saw the look on her face and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Its alright. Natsu-sama and Sting-sama can handle one Etherious."

Lucy nodded, still worried. Of course her own experiences with this particular demon didn't help. The moment she'd seen him she froze, not just in fear, but in anger as well. He was the one who tore her father and who knew how many of her servants from her. Natsu never told her the head count for people who died that night. He said the pain of her fathers death was enough her...She assumed most if not all of them died.

Regardless, she felt she should have stayed to help. However the feeling was short lived as the sounds of explosions soon faded until they were no more. Before allowing anyone in the girls agreed it would be a good idea t go and check how things turned out. They had no doubt the Dragon demons won, but if they were hurt it would be best to get them someplace out o the way so they didn't get crowded by curious onlookers. As they got closer to where the fight was, Lucy began to get an uneasy feeling. She couldn't explain why, but a feeling of dread was taking over her and making it hard for her to breath. When they found Natsu all by himself and limping while holding his hurt right shoulder, she knew her worries were justified.

"Natsu-sama! Where's Sting-sama? Are you alright?" Yukino asked in a panic.

Natsu dropped to his knees.

"Jackal got stronger recently...He put up a better fight than we were expecting. Sting got knocked out but he's alright."

His explanation didn't sit right with Lucy. If Sting were unconscious, why did he just leave him? With Erza he made sure to bring her back to the others despite being seriously hurt himself. Yukino didn't seem to suspect anything , however, as her next words proved she believed him.

"I'll go check on him." And she ran off.

After Yukino was out of sight Lucy knelt down next to Natsu.

"Natsu are you alright? You don't seem like yourself right now."

Instead of answering her, he grabbed her and pulled her into an embrace.

"Natsu?"

"L-Lucy...Run..."

Lucy pulled away from him and finally saw the look on his face. His expression was feral and terrifying, but the utter pain in his eyes told Lucy all she needed to know. Natsu was under someone else's control, and at that moment a complete danger to her. Lucy scrambled away from him and hurried to her feet. Natsu let out a growl and came after her. Thinking fast, she grabbed her keys and called her lion spirit Loke out.

"Open Gate of the Lion! Loke!"

"Hows' it beautiful?" He said with over used charm.

"Not now! Natsu is being controlled, we need to incapacitate him or something!"

She barely managed her explanation when Natsu attacked. If it weren't for Loke's quick reflexes, he wouldn't have dodged in time. Thankfully he went into serious mode and focused on stopping Natsu. Lucy wanted so badly to help Loke but Natsu was just too fast and powerful for her, she was still a novice! It was driving her crazy especially when she saw Loke starting to lose ground in the fight.

He'd been backed into a corner and Natsu was going to strike him, so Lucy in a panic acted on instinct and adrenaline. She grabbed the whip off her hip and flung the end at Natsu's arm. Natsu thrust-ed his arm forward to punch Loke, but when it caught in mid-air he turned to see what had caused it. Lucy wanted to cry at the sight of him, his face was fierce and on anyone else Lucy would have feared for her life. Natsu, however, was someone she never had to fear and the fact that his eyes screamed out for her to flee from him made her angry! Whoever had done this to her lovable idiot would pay!

Taking Natsu's moment of distraction as an opportunity, Loke used his Regulus Impact to blast Natsu across the room. Natsu hit the wall so hard, bits of debris went flying everywhere. Lucy panicked slightly when he didn't immediately get back up, she took a hesitant step towards him but Loke stopped her.

"Don't, he's still a danger."

"But..." Lucy was so conflicted on what to do.

She was still internally fighting with herself when Yukino and Sting showed up. Yukino had to support him while he walked, as he wobbled with every step.

"You alright Lucy?" Sting asked eyeing a still unconscious Natsu.

"I'm fine, what about you?"

Sting rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.

"He caught me by surprise but I'm fine."

"What happened to him?" Yukino asked.

"It's an Etherious curse. Seilah can control anyone, and if she's done it once she can do it again. It doesn't matter how far away they are if she gives the command they'll do it." Sting explained.

"So she ordered him to attack us?" Lucy asked.

"Or maybe they wanted it to look like he'd betrayed us, or returned to his old ways." Yukino added in.

"Who knows, but we better get him out of here before he comes to." Loke said.

Everyone agreed. Sting managed to walk on his own to help Loke pick up the unconscious demon. As soon as the two got close, however, Natsu shot up and managed to slam Sting and Loke against one another. The force of which caused Sting to hit the ground and forced Loke back to the spirit realm.

"Sting- sama!" Yukino cried out.

In a moment of rage, one Lucy never thought she'd see coming from the soft spoken woman, Yukino called her spirit Libra forward and had her use her power over gravity to knock Natsu back against the wall. Continuing with her assault, Yukino had Libra fling him across the room and back several times.

"Yukino stop!" Lucy yelled pulling on her friends arm.

Yukino blinked and gasped.

"Oh goodness, Libra that's enough!"

The spirit stopped and bowed her head before disappearing back to the spirit realm.

"I'm sorry! I don't know what came over me!" Yukino apologized.

"It's fine just check on Sting" Lucy was already rushing to Natsu's side.

He looked really out this time. His body was completely still. Panicked, Lucy rolled him over to see his face. He was breathing, and his face looked completely in pain. Lucy wanted to cry.

"Oh Natsu..."

His eyes shot open suddenly and he grabbed her. she let out a startled yell before everything went dark...


	26. Chapter 26

It was brought to my attention that i made a bit of a boo boo in my story as far as accuracy to the original story was concerned so i had to completely rewrite this chapter, however i think i fixed it to here's what i was able to do with it. Enjoy!

* * *

It was a peaceful day in the Fairy Tail guild hall. Their noisiest member was on vacation, and there had been no word of a Dark Guild attack. Everyone was enjoying it, except a certain Iron Dragon demon, he was currently being ignored by his favorite bookworm. She was so engrossed in the ancient tome she was reading, she hadn't heard a word he'd said to her for the past hour. Frankly it was starting to piss him off. So in a moment of aggravation he plucked the book from her hands and lifted it out of her reach.

"Gajeel?!"

"Ya should listen when people talk to ya."

Levy attempted to jump to reach for the book, but Gajeel lifted it higher. She grumbled at him and he smirked.

"Give it back Gajeel, that book is special!"

"You say that about every book you read."

"This is different! Its a journal by a woman I suspect to be Lu-chans ancestor!"

That gave the iron dragon pause. He handed her back the book and rested his head in his hand.

"What makes ya think that?"

Levy inspected a passage in the book and when she found what she was looking for she pointed to it.

"Because it states that she was from an actual clan of Star Children, when their children turned 13 they'd tell them which star was theirs and keep the tradition going like that. However, this woman, Anna, broke that tradition when she was forced to flee to the human realm.

Lu-chan told me how her mother had discovered they came from a line of Star Children who had lost track of their lineage some how."

"Huh. So bunny girl comes from some fancy old family ? That's neat..."

Levy was already nose deep in the book and Gajeel knew he'd lost her again. Damn Shrimp...

 **X**

The Sabertooth guild was in its usual laid back feel as the members all lounged by the pool. The acting authority while their master was gone, Minerva, was enjoying floating in peace on a swim bed. Rouge swam up next to her and rested his arms near her leg.

"Good day M'lady."

"Hello Rouge, can I help you with something?" She asked, and though her words were polite, her tone expressed her annoyance at being disturbed.

Rouge gulped and decided to cut to the point.

"I was just wondering why you allowed Sting to use guild funds to go on vacation."

Minerva's eyes popped open and a look of pure rage came over the woman. Rouge backed up as quick as he could and hid behind one of his guild mates who happen to be swimming by.

"That idiot did what!?" She yelled furiously.

"Guess that answers that question..."

Minerva was just about to rip Rouge a new one for being a smart ass when one of their guild mates came rushing in panicked.

"M'lady, Rouge! Yukino and master Sting are back!"

"Good now he can be punished proper-"

"Sorry to interrupt M'lady but they came back in bad condition, they said they were attacked!"

Minerva instantly stopped her tiraid and headed for the main hall of the guild, Rouge hot on her heels. When they reached the hall, Minerva stopped in her tracks. Sting was being carried by Orga and Rufus, looking bloody and broken. Yukino wasn't as beat up but she was also being carried by guild mates, barely remaining conscious.

Rouge hurried over and took Yukino into his arms bridal style, she winced as he did so but didn't outright cry out. Minerva directed them into the guilds infirmary. As soon as they were laid down, the two got to work cleaning Sting and Yukino's wounds as best they could and making sure they were comfortable while Rufus went to get a healer from town. While they worked Froche and Lector made sure Yukino didn't pass out before they got some answers, blabbing at her about how the healer would be there soon, and how whoever did this was gonna pay (Froche: I think so too!).

Luckily Sabertooth had a regular doctor in town who could drop everything on a dime to come and patch their members up, so it didn't take long for him to get there. He worked efficiently, getting Sting in stable condition and then moving onto Yukino. While the healer worked, Minerva paced the room impatiently. She had an unspoken rule that nobody was aloud to lay a finger on her guild (besides her of course) with out proper repercussions, AKA having the life beat out of them. What really pissed her off was the fact that E.N.D and that other Star girl were supposed to be with them, yet they were nowhere to be found! Minerva swore to whatever Deity were listening that she'd make them pay if they just up and abandoned the two!

When the healer was finished patching Yukino up, Minerva was instantly by her side.

"What happened Yukino?"

"A-an Etherious stormed the resort... Sting-sama and Natsu-sama-" The two gave her an odd look for calling him that "-Took him on while Lucy-sama and I got the people to safety. During their fight, however, Natsu-sama was taken over by the macro curse. He attacked Sting-sama, Lucy-sama and I came to help but... but..."

By this point Yukino was in tears and a feeling of dread came over Minerva and Rouge.

"I tried my best to help but Sting-sama was hurt and he kept tricking us..."

"What happened to them Yukino?" Minerva's voice was surprisingly soft even to her.

"He was too much for us, he knocked Lucy-sama out and took off with her."

Yukino was in tears again and Minerva had to step outside her comfort zone to soothe the distressed girl, luckily she soon succumbed to exhaustion and fell asleep. Minerva motioned for her and rouge to step outside so they could talk without waking the two. Soon as Rouge shut the door to the infirmary, Minerva started snapping orders.

"Rouge get the communication lacrima and contact the fairies."

"Yes M'lady."

He hurried off and Minerva bit her lip in anger and confusion. She'd been a member of Tartaros for a very short while but it'd been long enough to learn some important information regarding its higher ups. Seilah's curse... Macro didn't work on demons. So how was it that one as powerful as E.N.D could be effected...?

 **X**

Lucy's head hurt...And she was cold. Everything was fuzzy and she couldn't remember much. She was at the resort... The demon that took her father from her attacked... Natsu went on a rampage-

Lucy gasped and bolted up. This was a mistake as the blood in her head rushed and the world swam. She squeezed her eyes shut and held her head in her hands until it stopped. When she was finally able to, she opened her eyes to observe where she was. She was in what she assumed to be a cell of some sort given it was dark and barren, with no furnishings and barred doors. She looked down to see she wasn't even on a cot of any sort and...SHE WAS NAKED!

"Kyaa!" She quickly covered herself up and made sure there were no creeps watching from outside her cell.

"This is horrible..." She mumbled to herself.

"Good you're awake."

Lucy jumped at the sudden voice and quickly turned to see a man walking towards her cell, eyes averted so he didn't see her naked form. When he got to her cell door he stopped and tossed a piece of clothe at her. She picked it up and inspected it. It was a long mans shirt, long enough she could use it as a short dress. She quickly pulled it on and sighed, glad to be covered. The man finally looked at her and Lucy couldn't help but gasp. He looked just like Gray! He was older and had white streaks forming in his hair, but the distinct facial features and his smile all reminded her of Gray.

"That's better, I don't understand the point of stripping prisoners, but between you and I-" He leaned in and whispered the next bit- "I think Kyoka gets off on it." He winked and started laughing.

If not for her current situation, Lucy would have laughed with him, but right now she needed answers.

"S-sorry but who are you? And where am I?"

The man lost his smile and sighed.

"You're in Tartaros's guild hall prison. You'll be staying here until we need you. Since you're so important I'll make sure you get somewhat better treatment than our... usual guests." With that he started walking away.

"Wait! What do you mean? What am I needed for? And why do you look like my friend Gray?"

The man stopped dead in his tracks and turned to glare at her.

"Don't mention that name around me again!"

His anger spiked causing a cold wind to blast from him. Lucy scurried away from him and watched wide eyed as the bars to her cell instantly froze over. He was diffidently related to Gray. With a final huff he turned and hurried away leaving Lucy cold, alone, and even more confused than before...


	27. Chapter 27

Natsu awoke with a start as a sudden pain shot through his body. He tried to move, to get away from what was causing him pain, but he couldn't move. A sickening laughter drew his attention. Kyoka and Seilah were standing off to the side sneering at him.

"You always were a heavy sleeper master, and annoying to awaken..." Kyoka stated as she finally stopped using her curse on him.

He sighed in relief before speaking, but he was still not in control of his body.

"Seilah dear..."

Seilah nodded and aloud him to speak freely, he still couldn't move though.

"What the hell is going on here, and where is Lucy!?"

"Not to worry Master, the Star Child is safe. After all she's useless if shes dead or injured."

"How is she involved in this?"

"That is of no concern to you now, you will simply stay here until we are ready for you to do your part."

"That's another thing, how is Seilah able to use her curse on me?"

Kyoka gave an evil smirk.

"Quite simply put you're not fully demon anymore, therefore you are no longer immune."

Natsu paused his struggling for a moment to let that sink in, then mentally shook himself. That didn't matter! He resisted before he could now! But the more he tried the more Kyoka began to laugh.

"Trying to figure out how you were able to break through before?"

The two demoness' shared an amused look before Kyoka continued.

"We aloud you to break free before, just so we could see the look on your face now when you realize you're helpless to stop us."

"No way! That's not true!" Natsu shouted.

He couldn't believe he'd be so easily controlled like that! It wasn't true, it couldn't be! Even if he was no longer immune to the macro curse he was still powerful and stubborn to boot! He could do this! He had to! For Lucy, he had to find a way! Kyoka must have decided they were done talking as the two demoness' turned to walk away. Rage built inside Natsu and he channeled it into strength as he roared:

"Hey! I'm not done with you two yet!"

When they continued to walk away, Natsu let his rage boil up his throat . He shot a pillar of fire from his mouth and smirked at the shocked expressions that greeted him afterwards.

"Seilah, I thought you ordered him to not use magick!?" Kyoka snarled at her companion who just stood there stunned.

"I think you two forgot who it is you're dealing with!"

With a furious cry and images of Lucy flooding his mind, Natsu forced his body to move despite the curse keeping him frozen. Kyoka used her green energy whips to hold him down. The pain they caused was excruciating, but Natsu didn't care. He'd endure all the pain in the world to protect his mate! With one last burst of strength, Natsu's body burst into flames, sending the two demons flying across the room. They fell to the ground unconscious; their curses no longer in effect.

Now free, Natsu ran as fast as he could out of the room and down the long hallway. It'd been a long time since he'd been back but he still had every hall in the place memorized. Easily maneuvering around, he made his way to the area the cells were kept. Halfway there, however, Natsu passed by a very familiar door. He stumbled and nearly fell flat on his face. This particular door was made of a very dark wood and had old scorch marks in the shapes of fists and feet along its length. His old room. His nostalgic daze was broken when his keen ears picked up on the sounds of footsteps heading his way. Lots of them. In any normal circumstance he gladly would have taken them on, but he didn't have the time or patience for such things. Hurriedly he stepped up to the door and undid the seal he set up a couple centuries ago and lept inside.

It was a good minute before the footsteps went by and eventually faded. He let out a relieved sigh. That relief was short lived. Now that he had a moment to calmly observe his surroundings he immediately regretted hiding in here. This room brought back nothing but bad memories. Memories of hatred and loneliness. Nothing had changed, all his old maps, battle plans, and ancient texts were shrewn about haphazardly. The walls were covered in scorch marks and patched holes from his constant outbursts.

He'd lived in this guild as its master for so many years and from the day he was brought back to life his anger was an ever present source of power. That was probably Zeref's intent all along, however he sure as hell didn't realize that Natsu's anger would keep him from the very thing he wanted him alive for. When he was told his only purpose in being reborn was to kill his brother and then die again with no star to return to this time, Natsu had promptly told Zeref to shove it. In an act of rebellion he refused Zeref's pleas for death. Eventually he disappeared and it would be years before the demon heard from his brother again.

Shaking off old memories like that he walked over to his desk and started rummaging through the singed papers there. Old battle plans, ancient texts about the human realm, and maps marked with possible locations of portals. He humorlessly chuckled to himself. The popular belief was that he'd started looking for the portals so he could take over both realms. Truth was he never had an interest in taking over anything, he just wanted a distraction from his anger. There was something else though...something he knew he'd suppressed due to the pain the memory brought. The real reason he sought out the portals...

"Gah! What am I doing? I need to find Lucy!"

He turned on his heel and started to head for the door. Suddenly a floor board gave way under his foot and he fell flat on his face.

"Son of a b-!"

He cut off his annoyed curse when he tugged his foot out of the floor and saw the box tucked away inside. Confusion overtook him and he shifted into a sitting position and tugged the box out of the hole. He didn't remember putting a box there and yet it was totally familiar at the same time. It was probably from the beginning of his demonic existence, he'd blocked a lot of those years away in his mind. That left them pretty fuzzy at times and he preferred it that way. Some of his memories from then were more painful than others...

Curiosity finally getting the best of him, he opened the box and pulled its contents out. It held a single piece of parchment that was clearly old and frayed around the edges. The second his eyes focused on the image it held, he instantly felt tears falling down his face. Anna... Anna Heartfillia. It was a hand drawn picture of him as a child and her a pre-teen sitting in a field making flower crowns.

And just like that it all came rushing back to him. After he'd first came back and told Zeref he wouldn't kill him, Anna had taken him in. She was like a big sister to him even before his death and resurrection, after was no different. She made sure he could control himself before he could be around other people, taught him how to read and write, and filled the first few years of his demonic life with peace and happiness. Until she disappeared... She often left him to visit towns with old records or library's to do research, but she always came back. Not That day. He spent years trying to find her. He scoward the realm looking for her, to no avail. Then Mard Geer found him.

So emotionally distraught and lonely beyond belief, he managed to convince Natsu that he belonged with the other Etherious. So he willingly went to Tartaros and became its master. That's when the anger became over whelming. He'd started the war with the intention of channeling his anger into it and hopefully finding some peace. It never worked of course. The other Etherious weren't friends or family and they never could have filled the holes in his soul that he knew now caused the never ending anger. Hope came in the form of the portals to the human realm. After a battle with a now nonexistent guild called Red Lizard, he came into possession of one. After learning of what it could do, he came to a realization that would further the war. If Anna wasn't in the magick realm the she had to be in the human realm! Problem was, each portal could only take you so far into the human realm. If you wanted to traverse all of it, you needed all of the portals. And so he forced Tartaros and all the dark guilds under them to gather as many of the portals as possible.

Half a century had passed before what little hope he had left was shattered. Zeref had shown himself again. The cursed Spriggan came to him again begging for death, this time from the despair that came from killing the fairy Mavis. When Natsu refused yet again, Zeref's cruel side surfaced and he told Natsu something that utterly broke his heart. In the human realm, there's not as much magick to absorb, so Star Children live just as long as normal humans. By the time Natsu had found the first portal she'd have already been an old woman. Anna was most diffidently dead. With those words heavy in his heart he felt his world come crashing down around him, both figuratively and literally.


	28. Chapter 28

Natsu hurried down the hallways of the Tartaros guild hall. After his little trip down memory lane in his old room, he'd promptly tucked the old photo away inside his coat and hurried to find Lucy again. Even though he was on the move his mind was still busy remembering the past. Now that he'd opened the flood gates he couldn't seem to stop it. The day he found out Anna was dead, was also the day the council would gather enough balls to attack Tartaros head on. In his grief he'd been completely caught off guard. Attacked by a man he later found out to be Igneel in a humanoid disguise, he was injured so severely that he had to revert to his child like form to heal.

With his guild under siege and him in a helpless state, he left. Back then the safety of his comrades was not a thing he cared about so leaving them behind meant nothing to him. He wandered aimlessly for weeks. He could have gone back to the guild to see how well they fared the attack, but he honestly didn't care. On the fourth week he awoke to a terrible earsplitting roar. He thought his head was going to burst from the noise. The Fire Dragon King, Igneel had caught his scent and proceeded to close in.

Though many dragons had decided to leave the magick realm and all its problems for a pocket realm between the two main ones, Igneel had been a part of the ancient war between demons and dragons, so he knew how ferocious demons could be. He himself had led the council in the attack on Tartaros. Natsu didn't even try to flee. Where was the point? In his current state Igneel could easily catch him.

To his surprise, Igneel did not attack him. Instead he took his human form and sat down next to him. He proceeded to talk to him and surprisingly, Natsu talked back. He found Igneel very easy to talk to, he opened up about everything. He told him about his anger at his brother, his sarrow over Anna, his pain over his life in general.

By the time he finished, Natsu was in angry tears, and Igneel had come to a decision. Natsu needed something to liver for and Igneel was going to give it to him. Igneel took Natsu under his wing in secret. During the day he aided in the war, at night he taught Natsu dragon magick. At first Natsu hated the forced learning. He had no interest in the magick and saw no reason for him to stick around the dragon, but every time he tried to leave Igneel would stop him. As time went by Natsu stopped trying to leave and as he grew fond of the dragon who cared for him he found himself facing every day with a grin on his face and a pep in his step.

The bond he developed with Igneel solidified into one of family the day he broke one of Igneel's rules and followed him to a meeting between the other dragons who choose to remain in the magick realm. He understood that he was supposed to remain a secret simply because of who he was but, that didn't stop his curiosity as to why the other dragons choose to stay. So he snuck as close as he dared trying to stay down wind and listened in to the conversation.

The White Dragon, Weislogia, had been gloating about how well his son Sting had been doing with his training. The Iron Dragon, Metalicana, joined in boasting how his son Gajeel could already turn his skin to iron scales. What he did not expect was Igneel to join in.

"Well my son has already mastered his first secret art!"

Igneel had called him his son! He thought of him as family, he cared about Natsu! The feelings Igneel's words had created over flowed in the young demon and he could feel the constant pain in his soul ease just the slightest bit. From then on he took to his training with gusto! At one point he even tested the waters and called Igneel dad. The dragon had smiled at him and responded like it was nothing new for them. Things were peaceful and happy for a while...Until they hit the 50 year mark.

That was when Igneel decided to tell Natsu the truth. That he was dying, and it was because he'd been slowly giving his powers to Natsu over the years. Natsu begged him to take it all back, begged him not to leave Natsu alone again, but it was too late. There was no going back and the only way to keep it from being meaningless was to complete the final transfer. Igneel had to seal himself away inside Natsu to keep the power he'd given the demon from fading. Their bodies would merge and they'd become one being, with Natsu's consciousness being the dominant one. Technically Natsu would be living for the both of them, but either way to Natsu it felt like he was loosing Igneel.

It was Igneel's final wish that paved the path Natsu took that ended up in the here and now.

"Fix what you broke and help end this war, make my home peaceful again."

With that Igneel sealed himself inside the Demon, and Natsu headed straight for the one guild he'd have the best chance of convincing to let him join; Fairy Tail. It was there he met the other dragon demons, all had gone through what he had with Igneel. With exceptions for Laxus and Cobra who had merely learned from their dragons, the others felt equally saddened by the loss of the beings they fully considered their parents.

It all made sense now... Why he forgot what Anna looked like, why he took to Lucy almost immediately, why he let Igneel take him in the first place. He'd repressed all the painful memories so that they could no longer hurt him. Of course non of that mattered anymore, the past could stay there for all he cared. Right now all that mattered was getting Lucy out of this damned place!

 **X**

The man who looked like Gray had kept his word. Lucy was brought food and water. Granted it was only enough that she could survive on but, it was still better than nothing. She'd tried multiple times to figure a way out of her cell, but she wasn't strong enough to break the bars, they took her keys away, and she had no view of the stars. One of the last things Jellal had taught her and Yukino was how to read the stars, to find spells and ancient knowledge hidden amongst them. She bet that skill would come in handy about now. She even tried seducing some of the guards she saw passing by to no avail.

She was just about to throw in the towel when she heard a faint giggling coming from around the corner. Lucy waited to see if anyone would walk by, but no one did.

"Watcha staring at?"

Lucy just about peed herself from shock. She jumped and turned around to see a young girl standing in her cell smiling at her. The girl had ridiculously long wavy blonde hair and emerald colored eyes, and were those wings on her head or hair clips? Lucy just stood there starring at the girl that was somehow in the cell with her now. The girl stared back smiling for a bit, but when Lucy continued to silently stare the girl started to figit nervously.

"Why are you staring?" She asked flustered.

"Because you appeared out of nowhere!" Lucy yelled incredulously.

The girls eyes widened for a minute before she started to giggle again. Lucy just sighed. This girl was something else...

"Mavis." The girl said. Lucy cocked an eyebrow at her.

"My name. It's Mavis Vermilion."

Suddenly Lucy's eyes went wide. She knew that name!

"You were the fairy in that story I read!" Mavis smiled at this.

"But...I thought you were...?"

"Dead?" Mavis offered up. Lucy blushed and nodded.

"Well technically Spriggan can't die, but for all intense and purposes I am dead." She responded matter of factually.

"Why are here? Not that I am not honored to meet you of course! I'm just confused." Lucy added hastily.

"I thought you could use some help! I'm only an image right now and cant really touch anything but I can at least point you in the right direction."

"Really? Thank you!"

Mavis gave her a sweet smile.

"It is the least I could do. After all your mother was a great help to me in the past."

Lucy was about to ask how she knew her mother when they heard loud foot steps coming down the hall. Mavis quickly walked through the bars to appear on the other side. She assumed a stance like she was trying to pick the lock on Lucy's cell when a Tartaros grunt walked into view.

"Hey!" The grunt immediately proceeded to chase Mavis trying to catch her. After a few minutes of pointless chasing, he "cornered" Mavis near the cell doors. He lunged for the small girl determined to catch her only to fly right through and bash into the bars, effectively knocking him unconscious. Lucy wasted no time in pulling the man closer and searching him for the key to her cell. She finally found it and unlocked the doors, promptly stepping out and tossing the man inside and locking the door.

"Thank you Mavis!" Lucy was about to hug the fairy turned Spriggan but stopped remembering she was simply an image.

"You'll find your keys and proper clothes in a room down this hall-" She pointed to an off shooting hall to their right"- After that follow the hall for 300 paces and turn left. By that time you should run into Natsu."

Lucy nodded and was about to turn around to do just that when Mavis spoke again.

"What ever happens Lucy, do not use the stars on Histoire Intuneric. Nothing good will come of it and like its counterpart its not time yet. Also! When you survive this ordeal I'll be sure to tell you some interesting stories about your mother!"

Lucy had no idea what she was talking about but nodded anyway. With resolve, Lucy turned and hurried into an unknown future.

 **X**

Natsu had to stealth his way around. Normally he'd just bash his way through any situation, but he worried if he was too noisy they'd take Lucy and hide her some place he didn't know about. All he had left was the long hallway that lead into the cells left to go. He was about a third of the way down when the best smell in the world invaded his nose. Soon after he heard the sound of footsteps coming his way. He hurried his pace and nearly ran smack into Lucy halfway down the hall.

"Lucy!"

"Natsu!"

They quickly embraced and shared a sweet kiss before Natsu felt her body tense and she pushed him away.

"Luce?"

"How do I know you're really you?" She asked giving him a steely glare.

He sighed, but was glad she was being careful.

"I swear on my name Etherious Natsu Dragneel that I am in complete control of my body and mind, if I am lying may I be turned into a Spriggan and sealed in a crystal coffin."

As soon as he finished the oath Lucy hurled herself back in his arms and held him tight.

"Oh Natsu, I was so worried for you!"

"I know, me too. They didn't hurt you did they?"

She shook her head no. He sighed in relief and was about to ask her another question when they heard shouting coming from the hall holding the cells.

"Time to go Luce."

Natsu grabbed her hand and lead her through the maze like guild hall. Every now and then they had to duck into a room or press into the shadows to keep from getting caught. They were almost at the entrance when everything went to hell. Natsu heard many footsteps ahead of them and cursed. They knew they were heading there! And at this point it was too late to double back!

"Get ready Lucy, we're gonna have to bust through."

"Well if that's the case I know the perfect spirit to help!"

She quickly grabbed one of her gold keys and as quick as she could, focused her magick to summon it.

"Open Gate of the Golden Bull, Taurus!"

Natsu had only seen this spirit once before and it still annoyed him how much of a pervert the damn cow was.

"Mooo! How can I be of service to you and that hot bod' Miss Lucy?" The cow man asked while string at Lucy's chest.

Natsu had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from lashing out at the spirit.

"There are guys blocking our way out, knock them out of the way for us!" Lucy instructed.

Taurus moo-ed a battle cry before grabbing his ax and rushing towards the entrance. Natsu and Lucy followed after him. They were managing quite well; Taurus stampeded through the lower demons easily knocking most out, Those he missed Natsu and Lucy took care of. Natsu actually dared to believe they'd make it out in one piece when he heard Lucy cry out in pain. He spun in time to catch her before she hit the ground. Taurus instantly disappeared and the demon grunts came at them.

"The Star Child is not leaving E.N.D!" Kyoka screamed from the other end of the room.

With Kyoka's yell Lucy cried out again, clearly under Kyoka's curse. Rage built up and exploded through Natsu. He carefully layed Lucy on the ground and shot out a fire blast that knocked all the grunts away from them, many catching fire and screaming in pain. Kyoka smirked a nasty mock smile.

"There's the master I remember..."

"What do you bastards want with Lucy?!" Natsu said as he bared his fangs at the demoness.

"To do what you refused to do!"

Natsu didn't have time to process what she'd said. With a snap of her (...(Claws?)) fingers the room was flooded with demons and Natsu had to focus on protecting his mate!


	29. Chapter 29

**Sorry for not posting in a while! Adultting is hard and leaves little room for much else besides work and sleep. However I give you guys this long chapter as an apology enjoy!**

* * *

Gray couldn't stay still. Ever since they got the call from Sabertooth an hour ago he'd been pacing outside Makarov's office waiting for the damn council to give him an answer. Honestly, Gray was expecting the worst. Most everyone was convinced E.N.D had betrayed them, of course the people who were close to him didn't want to believe that, but that wouldn't matter...

At this point E.N.D's only hope was the fact that Lucy had been taken with him. No way the council would want the Etherious to have a Star Child. If they allowed Fairy Tail to save her, chances were they could get E.N.D back too. Gray could only hope. He really didn't want to kill his friend.

"Gray-sama? Perhaps we should wait below with the others? Master will let us know when a decision is made."

Gray turned to see the Undine beauty who'd been patiently waiting with him. Juvia had been standing to the side watching him pace, and she couldn't take his worried expression anymore. Gray sighed and walked over to stand in front of her. As soon as he was in reach, Juvia wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled into him. He wrapped her up in a tight hug, he half expected her to complain about being squeezed too hard, but Juvia never complained about him. Sure, he once saw her as creepy and stalker-ish, but over time he grew to rely on her constant nearness and loyalty, Honestly, if she weren't here now, he'd be freaking out so much more. Both jumped when the door to Makarov's office slammed open. Any hope Gray had before vanished when he saw the guild masters face. He was beyond pissed, he looked murderous!

"Gramps?" Gray asked hesitantly.

He merely shook his head and went to stand on the banister overlooking the bottom floor. Gray and Juvia scrambled to follow him. As soon as he settled on the banister, everyone shut up to look to him.

"Listen up brats! The council has made a decision. They believe E.N.D has betrayed us, that he only sought our trust to get his hands on a Star Child. They have ordered that Gray use his abilities to put him down for good."

There was a collective gasp from everyone. Gray felt completely shell shocked. He couldn't do it! 50 years ago, yeah sure, but now...Now he and E.N.D had gotten to know one another...Had become sort of...Friends. Juvia hugged his arm to her chest hoping to comfort him in some way; It did nothing to help.

"As far as the Star Child is concerned, we are to rescue her and give her over to the council. They want Yukino as well but, that is Sabertooth's battle to fight, for now our focus is Lucy."

To this, there were several shouts of outrage, mostly from the people who'd met Lucy and those who are friends with Yukino. The others simply knew that the council wished to weaponize them. Gray could feel the rage starting to over shadow the dread. What was the council thinking?!

"Master! We cant let them do this! E.N.D has changed, he's not a threat anymore, and Lucy shouldn't be forced into anything-"

"Erza I completely agree with you. I never said I agreed with the councils ruling."

With that simple statement Makarov shut up all conversations and the grin he wore completely contradicted his age. Instead of a wise, old giant, Makarov was once again a rebellious teen looking forward to breaking some major rules.

"We're storming the Tartaros guild, getting our nakama back, both of them, and as soon as she's safe from the Etherious we are making sure the council don't get their hands on Lucy next!"

Cheers erupted around the hall and Gray felt all the weight on his shoulders lift. Makarov turned back to him and Juvia and smiled.

"We'll find a way to prove E.N.D's innocence Gray. I wont let you bare that burden."

"...Thank you Gramps..."

 **X**

Sting had to keep biting the inside of his cheek. It was the only way he could keep eye contact with Minerva with out flinching!

"But M'lady!"

"But nothing! You're hurt Sting, and even if you weren't its a fools mission anyway! E.N.D should not have been able to be controlled, there for he simply betrayed us, get over it!"

"I am not hurt that bad! Its a concussion and a few large bruises, I'll live! And I'm telling you Natsu would never do that! He's changed and maybe that means he can be controlled now! He and Lucy need our help!"

Everyone else in the Sabertooth guild looked on with fear and confliction. Sting was their master but only the fool-hearty would defy Minerva. There was also the fact that many in the guild agreed with Minerva about the possibility of betrayal. Honestly the only ones who sided with Sting were Rouge, Yukino, and of course their familiars.

Minerva looked ready to strangle Sting, but he did something that surprised everyone. He backed down.

"Fine, whatever you say M'lady..."

Minerva blinked at him, not sure what just happened. Turning on his heel, Sting left for his office, but not before sharing a look with Rouge and Yukino. If Minerva didn't want to help that was fine. Se was right in keeping the guild out of it anyway, it wasn't their problem. That of course didn't apply to those who actually wanted to help.

 **X**

Lucy hurt all over. She could still feel remnants of Kyoka's curse coursing through her. With what little energy she could muster she lifted her head and looked around. Immediately her eyes landed on Natsu. He was across the room surrounded by demons. He'd transformed into his Etherious form and was shooting flames everywhere. She tried to get up, she tried to go to him but her body wouldn't move.

"You're not going anywhere. Not unless I tell you to."

Lucy looked up to see a beautiful demon with dark hair and eyes with horns protruding from her head walking beside Kyoka.

"Now behave and follow us."

As soon as the sentence was uttered, Lucy felt her body move to get up and start following the demoness's.

"No wait! Stop!"

Lucy heard a deadly sounding snarl behind her, which she assumed was Natsu, but as soon as she heard it the room was flooded with more demons.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried out trying to force her body to turn back, but it wouldn't.

"Its no use. E.N.D may be able to resist, but there is no way you can."

Lucy tried to fight it, but nothing she did worked. She was lead through the building for quite a ways before they made it to a large room with a glass roof. Through it she could clearly see the stars shinning almost violently. When her body came to an immediate stop she refocused on the room around her. Her eyes immediately went wide at what she saw.

In the center of the room was a giant crystal, inside the crystal was a young man (or young looking man, Lucy couldn't tell which). He had dark hair and pale skin. Though the man inside looked as if he were in a peaceful sleep, the crystal itself pulsed violently with malevolent energy. Lucy was still knew to magick but even she could tell whoever it was inside was powerful and dangerous.

"Histoire Intuneric. The tomb which seals away our Spriggan Master. Your ancestor Anna may have designed it and your mother the one to use it but you shall be the one to unseal it."

Lucy looked to the new voice and saw a demon with long dark hair in a pony tail and holding a book that looked an awful lot like the fairy tale book she'd been reading.

"What are you talking about?!"

The man grinned. No, more like the corners of his mouth lifted in a mock of a grin.

"Star Children hold great power, but their greatest power is the ability to heal stars. Anna wanted to heal E.N.D, Layla wanted to imprison Lord Zeref until he could be healed. We dealt with both."

Lucy felt her heart plummet at the mention of her mother. For years she was convinced her mother died of a weak heart, but if they had something to do with it...

"What...What do you mean: 'Dealt with'?"

"What Mard Geer means, is that we chased Anna out of this realm, and when that wouldn't work on Layla, we gave her bane particle poisoning. Sadly it did not kill her as quickly as Mard Geer would have preferred, but even with the human realm slowing the effects of the bane particles she did eventually meet her end."

Anger began to build up inside Lucy, and with it, her magick power. Over head the stars blazed brighter then before, and her keys shone brilliantly at her hip.

"Seilah control her!" Mard Geer snapped.

The demoness controlling Lucy glared at her and Lucy felt the last of her free will slip.

"Such a lowly creature, so easily swayed by emotions." Mard Geer sneared distainfully.

"Now enough wasting time. Look to the stars, find the spell that will release Zeref and we will complete our purpose at last!"

Lucy's eyes went wide. They wanted her to release Zeref!?

 **X**

Natsu had lost all ability to reason. Lucy had been taken away by Seilah and Kyoka to who knows where and every time he managed a little bit of leeway more demons would show up to get in his way! Every instinct in him was screaming for him to get Lucy back and calling him a dumb ass for losing her in the first place! As Natsu burned through another wave of demons the wall to the entrance exploded. Natsu and the other demons turned to see what had caused it.

"You're in a hell of a lot of trouble Ash for Brains. The council wants your head. Lucky for you Gramps told them to shove it."

A grin slowly started to form on Natsu's face. Gray stepped in from the rubble and behind him over a dozen others from the guild.

"'Bout damn time Ice prick!" Natsu laughed as the demons redirected their attack on the intruders.

Gray blasted the front runners away with his special Devil Slayer Ice giving the group behind him enough time to storm in.

"How many people we got?" Natsu asked his brain automatically going into war mode.

"Twenty in our group. Laxus, Erza, Gajeel, and Cana all have same sized groups and are attacking from different points. Ya know its a good thing Cana makes everyone keep those tracking cards or we'd've never found you. Its a real pain that Tartaros is always on the move."

As Gray explained everything, Natsu could faintly hear fighting going on in other parts of the guild and smirked. This had to be the first major attack on Tartaros since he was the Master.

"Where's Lucy?" Gray asked.

Natsu growled.

"Seilah and Kyoka took off with her. These damn small fry keep getting in my way!"

"Lets fix that then."

Gray used his ice to create a battering ram in front of Natsu. with the ice blocking them, Natsu was able to barrel through the demons attempting to block his way.

"Go get her Flame Brain!" he heard Gray yell from behind him.

With his path clear and Gray ensuring no one followed him, Natsu let his nose lead him through the halls to the thrown room.

 **X**

Lucy starred in shock, still not able to fully comprehend what the demon wanted her to do.

"Y-you cant be serious..." She muttered.

"I'm completely serious. You as the last Heartfilia Star Child, are the only one who can free Lord Zeref. Do so! Look to the stars and find the spell that will do this!"

As he said that, Lucy felt herself fall to her knees and her head jerk up to look at the night sky. She didn't want to, but Lucy found herself searching the heavens. Even as an amateur she found it quite simple to read the spells hidden there. It wasn't like reading a book, more like seeing the different ways the light of the stars overlapped and instantly just knowing the spell that was hidden there. Lucy saw spells for fighting, spells for defense, and the spell Jellal used to zoom around, but no spell for releasing a Spriggan from a crystal coffin.

"What is taking so long? Mard Geer does not like to be kept waiting!" Mard Geer shouted at her.

"I cant find it." Lucy shot back a little too smugly.

"Kyoka, lower her resistence to pain."

"Yes Mard Geer-sama."

Lucy was once again hit with Kyoka's curse right before out of no where vines shot out at her wrapping around her body like a constrictor. They squeezed her so tight the thorns dug into her skin. It would have been painful to her regardless, but Kyoka's curse made it a million times worse! Lucy screamed out.

"It's there, it has to be there! Find it and release Lord Zeref!"

Suddenly from the hall Lucy was brought down, the roar of a wild beast could be heard. It was so loud and feral sounding it shook the walls and made Lucy's hair stand on end. She shuddered then cried out again from the thorns digging in more. The roaring got louder and louder until it felt as if Lucy's ears would bleed. Suddenly the sound cut off and was replaced by the hissing of the vines binding her being burned off.

"Ah Master, when will you learn to stop getting in our way?" Mard Geer said apathetically.

Lucy was still in pain and being forced to look up but she felt the warmth and roughness of Natsu's hands on her shoulders.

"When you stop being a pest then maybe."

The warmth from Natsu's hands spread through Lucy's body like a warm bath on a cold winter night, Lucy felt the pain in her body ease and slowly she began to relax and with a relieved sigh she was finally able to move.

"How did you do that?!" Seilah practically shrieked.

"Dunno, but I did it!" Natsu replied with a cocky grin.

The grin quickly faded as Mard Geer shot more vines at them. Natsu scooped Lucy up and dodged the incoming attacks.

"Kyoka, Seilah go deal with the other intruders, I will handle our former master and his pet." Mard Geer sneared.

Natsu growled as the two left the room, and he set Lucy down.

"She's not a pet! She's my mate, and you're gonna pay for ever laying a hand on her!"

Mard Geer grinned maliciously.

"You're a fool for growing so attached to such a lowly creature. She will release Lord Zeref and we shall complete our birthright at last!"

"Like hell that'll happen! C'mon Luce, let kick his ass!"


	30. Chapter 30

**Just a quick heads up for future chapters: I'm going to be doing multiple fights at once so they may bounce around from place to place a lot. Also i'm going to be taking a few liberties with the story and adding my own stuff, so if you don't like that its not following the anime or manga sorry but why are you reading fan fiction then?**

* * *

Sting, Rouge, and Yukino were halfway to the Fairy Tail Guild when a familiar figure stepped into their path.

"M'lady!?" Sting stammered.

"Honestly. You three think I wouldn't realize what you were up to?"

All three gulped at the fierce look on Minerva's face. Then just as suddenly as she had appeared her scowl disappeared as well.

"Well we should get going. I already went to the Fairies guild hall, they could really use our help right now."

They just blinked at her.

"What?! It's not like dragging your butts back to the guild will do me any good so lets get going already!"

They all smiled when they caught sight of a dusting of pink on Minerva's cheeks.

 **X**

"C'mon Luce, lets kick his ass!"

Mard Geer quirked an amused eyebrow at Natsu's declaration.

"Do you honestly believe the two of you stand a chance against me?"

"You know damn well I can take you by myself!" Natsu boasted a giant malicious grin on his face.

"But where is the fun in that? I wanna see the look on your face when an "Inferior creature" helps me kick your ass!"

The amused look on Mard Geer's face immediately fell and Lucy felt a shiver of fear crawl down her spine. Natsu leaned in close to her. His warmth like a security blanket soothing her worries.

"We got this Luce." He whispered to her.

"Natsu, the only real fight I've been in was against a bunch of crazy religious humans!"

"You worry too much Luce! Fighting is instinct and smarts, you got smarts in spades so just listen to that voice inside you and you'll be fine!"

With those frustratingly unhelpful words he shot forward towards Mard Geer. Lucy's pulse went into overdrive as Mard Geer's vines shot out at Natsu. Of course he dodged them easily, but Lucy still worried. He did have a bad habit of being too cocky sometimes, she seriously hoped this wasn't one of those times. Suddenly her intuition screamed at her to act and she found herself pulling out her celestial whip and the key for Cancer. She lashed out with the whip pulling Natsu out of the way of a vine he failed to notice while she summoned Cancer to deal with the ones suddenly surrounding her.

Amazed that Natsu had actually been right. Lucy felt her confidence build as she continued to provide support for Natsu. Mard Geer looked furious that she wasn't as easy a target as he'd thought. She was covering Natsu while dodging the attacks he sent her way with relative ease. The moment passed quickly, however, as Mard Geer found an opening and took it. Lucy barely had time to comprehend what was going on before cancer pushed her out of the way and was skewered from all sides by thorns.

"Cancer!" Lucy screamed as the spirit returned to his realm to recover.

"Spirits are only as strong as their Star Child! That will forever be their downfall!" Mard Geer gloated.

Infuriated, Lucy lashed out at him, Wrapping her whip around him. She pulled hard and managed to fling him across the room right at Natsu's waiting fist. There was a satisfying crunching noise which Lucy hoped was his nose breaking, but she didn't have time to find out as she was once again dodging attacks from his vines.

 **X**

As Fairy Tail advanced further into Tartaros, Gray found it increasingly odd that they had yet to spot even one of the Nine Demon Gates yet. Granted most of them tended to avoid him at all costs, but there was one who wouldn't be afraid to face him.

"Gray-sama look out!" Juvia cried pushing him aside as a blast of ice completely engulfed her.

"Juvia!"

"That's a great girl you've got there Gray. You ought to take better care of her."

Gray couldn't say he was surprised. He was the only person in Tartaros who was immune to Gray's powers. His corpse of a father, Silver Fullbuster.

"You know damn well I do take care of her." Gray said as he put his hand on Juvia's forehead and unfroze her. Luckily for Juvia, Undine's are made of nothing but water so being completely frozen had no permanent damaging effects.

"Juvia go on ahead."

"But Gray-sama-!"

"Go! You know as well as I do he's only here as a distraction. Go a head and if you find him-"

Gray gave her an intense stare that made her insides quiver.

"-Show that bastard no mercy."

Juvia nodded and directed the rest of their group around Silver.

"Now Gray, how about we make this the last time eh?"

"I planned on it Dad."

 **X**

Thanks to Minerva's Territory Magick, the group from Sabertooth made it to the area Tartaros was currently hovering above. They could see a group on the bottom half of the colossal cube pushing back against a demonic onslaught.

"I hear Gajeel up there barking orders." Rouge said covering one ear in annoyance.

"Sounds like his isn't the only group up there." Sting said looking to the eastern side.

"Alright lets get up there. Sting, Rouge help out where you can. Yukino and I will find Lucy." Minerva said before warping them up there.

Gajeel nearly took Stings head off with his Iron Dragon Sword when they appeared next to him.

"Watch it!" Sting shouted.

"Don't just pop up outta nowhere then!" Gajeel growled back.

Rouge quickly pushed Gajeel out of the way of an incoming green ball of Magick.

"Can we please focus!" He said angrily.

"Right! I need to get to Lucy, on the way here I saw a spell in the stars that may help, but we need to cast it together!"

Gajeel nodded and pulled out a glowing Tarot card.

"Oi! Any word on Salamander and Bunny Girl yet?"

From the card came a plethora of voices all saying they hadn't seen either yet. They were just about to lose heart when Juvia's voice rang out through the card loud and clear.

"Gray-sama's group found E.N.D-san near the western entrance. Lucy-san wasn't with him. He ran towards the center of the main building structure."

"If they're still in the main structure, chances are they aren't keeping her in the dungeon. M'lady do you have any idea where they might have her?" Sting asked.

Minerva thought back to the terrible mistake she'd made years ago of joining up with Tartaros. She hadn't seen much of the guild then but maybe...

"If they wanted to use a Star Child's power they'd have to make sure she could see the stars right?"

Yukino nodded.

"Then I know where to go, c'mon!"


End file.
